News
Dublin-based songwriter and poet Christian Wethered has released “The First Thing”, the opening track from his new album “From The Balustrade”, due in 2027 via LVP Records. His poetry takes centre stage, with dreamlike verses left open to interpretation. A playful, quirky arrangement flows through the lyrics, featuring, among others, Caimin Gilmore, one of Ireland’s finest double bassists. It feels like a big leap forward.
Spitzer Space Telescope shares the sea shanty single “Bound For Calais-O” a day before the Broadside Hacks Roster Tour begins in Lewes. Dan MacDonald calls sea shanties “a well of inspiration”, and this is the jolly “foc’sle” variety, with Mareva Lindo singing harmonies. It channels The Clancy Brothers’ gorgeous vibe, minus the Aran sweater.
Toria Wooff’s new album “Aleister” is due on 12 January 2027 via Sloe Flower Records. Her new single “Noiselessly” is out today. She wrote it alone in her flat, five years after her best friend’s passing. The lyrics come from the eulogy she wrote at the time. The video follows her across the moors of her hometown as she resists, yet habitually yields to grief’s ever-present grip.
Radie Peat’s debut solo album, “No Human Tongue Can Tell”, is due on Rough Trade Records on 13 November. Her new single is “Hares on the Mountain”, a traditional folk song she learned from Shirley Collins. As the protagonist in this song, she anthropomorphically ponders the unjust gender dynamics of courtship.
Gwenifer Raymond shares her new single “Bird Songs for Atomic Skies”, marking her signing to Fat Possum. Raymond calls it a mutant rag, a blues gone awry, with lyrebirds in irradiated nests and foxes whose barks are all wrong. The folk horror reaches post-apocalyptic levels. She supports Geese across America and Canada, then headlines in the UK.
Following last year’s scarily accomplished debut album, New Thing, Avery Friedman returns with her new single “You Move”, a song about savouring the unexpected fruits that reveal themselves amid times of uprootedness. Watch the accompanying tomato-themed video directed by Dylan Friese-Greene. Friedman kicks off her first UK/EU shows this month.
Shovel Dance Collective’s “Everything in Readiness” is due 23 October on Glitterbeat’s tak:til imprint. “Jer the Rigger” is their third single, part of an opening suite that is accompanied by a video from Tim Plester and Rob Curry featuring footage from the Doc Rowe archive. The band say the arrangements were constantly tinkered with on the road, sometimes paying off, sometimes not.
James Yorkston announces “La Magnifica”, a career-spanning double album, out November 27th on Domino. It picks from his 15 albums for the label, from the early Athletes days to his most recent Swedish collaborations with Nina Persson and Johanna Söderberg. The first of two new songs is also out today, accompanied by a video directed by Lewis Baillie.
Fermanagh-born, Dublin-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist RÓIS, aka Rose Connolly, has signed to Domino Records. Her critically acclaimed 2024 album, MO LÉAN, will be reissued globally – remastered with a brand-new track, “PORT NA H-EALA”. Watch her performing “WHAT DO YOU SAY (LIVE FROM A WAKE)”.
Smithsonian Folkways will reissue Michael Hurley’s 1964 debut “First Songs” on vinyl on November 6th. Frederic Ramsey Jr. originally recorded it at home in New Jersey on the reel-to-reel machine he used for Lead Belly’s Last Sessions. Mike Monseur has remastered it, and it comes in the original black gatefold. Watch the video for his classic ‘The Werewolf Song’, which was animated by Hurley’s friend Drew Christie.
Mayo Thompson’s “Quiet Days in Cliché” is his first solo guitar album and his first solo record in fifty-six years. Out December 4th on Drag City, it was recorded on a smartphone. Mayo calls it just some strumming and notes to self. Drag City call them “acoustic improvisations that draw threads through space, looking for what more could happen.”
From his forthcoming studio album Oceanic, due out on October 16th, Declan O’Rourke has shared a thought-provoking new video for Earl Grey and Edwin, his third album single. About two kindred souls brought together by a love of music and art, it’s one of the most beautiful videos and songs I’ve seen/heard in a long time.