Featured Albums of the Month
Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith return with “Wakefire: A Summer Album”, a full-scale double album that trumps its predecessor in both ambition and reward. Presented as a largely chronological account of summer, twenty-seven tracks might sound like something of a throwback in today’s climate of instant gratification, but they make it seem like a revolutionary act, and a hugely gratifying one at that.
On Emily Portman’s fourth solo album, she weaves a tapestry of complex lyrical themes and intricate musical arrangements. Of all the singers and songwriters in British folk music, few have the ability to encapsulate what it means to be human in the way that Portman does. “Dominion of Spells” is a real and vital piece of work, something to be cherished.
“…an album that flits so easily between past and present, whose songs encompass fluttering beauty and quietly looming presences.” The Little Winters is an album worthy of the clàrsach, with all its historical and cultural importance, and Anna McLuckie, with her clear voice, poetic songwriting and precise, fluid playing, has announced herself as one of British folk music’s most formidable talents.
Jim Moray — folk music’s errant prince — returns with Gallants, his eighth solo album. Traditional ballads are teased into stunning new shapes, the self-penned Three Gallants fits seamlessly among them, and the imposing Omie Wise drips with pathos and tenderness. A stunning closer backed by Maddie Morris and the Trans Choir seals an uncompromising, deeply immersive collection.
Many of the songs on Joshua Burnside’s “It’s Not Going to Be Okay” can disarm you or take your breath away from their very first lines. Burnside is the most consistently human and the most surprising of songwriters. Details spring out at you like spiders from the cracks between floorboards. Meteors and energy-efficient light bulbs, blackbirds and bears, spaceships and Peugeots. The profound and the quotidian occupy the same arena.
Very few come sprinkled with the kind of magic dust that coats the new album by Georgia Shackleton. A sense of history seeps into every corner of the recording. These songs are timeless and wise, bright and intricate, shot through with polar light and the glint of the sea. “From the Floorboards” is an album with a story behind it, and that story is worth telling.
Notes to Self is Welsh harpist Catrin Finch’s most intimate work yet—a poignant “letter” to her 13-year-old self. Through eleven compositions, Finch explores themes of home, anxiety, and innocence with expert precision. From the eerie depths of Black Holes to the luminous runs of Môr Arianrhod, this album is a masterclass in emotional depth and musical intelligence; one to cherish.
From street-busking in Carlow to collaborating with Boygenius, Ye Vagabonds’ journey culminates in ‘All Tied Together.’ Releasing January 30, their fourth album swaps traditional covers for deeply personal original songwriting. Produced by Phil Weinrobe, it’s a masterful blend of earthy folk and experimental textures—shimmering synths and soaring strings—capturing the grit of their past and the warmth of home.
Bergamo-based guitarist Buck Curran’s Far Driven Sun is an intensely musical, layered set celebrating his reunion with a 1990 Stefan Sobell ‘Butterfly’ acoustic guitar. From the intimate “Vignettes” to the subtly dynamic “Bells” and the buoyant “Unicorn Song,” it showcases Buck’s exquisite touch as a player and recording artist. It’s a highly accomplished album, made with love and performed with the utmost skill and intricate musicianship.
John Elliott of The Little Unsaid has a way of drawing listeners in with universal truths presented in the most personal – and often poetic – of ways. On Stay Fragile All Across This Cold Frontier, the album moves from intimate piano ballads to raw blues-rock and stately meditations, confirming The Little Unsaid as one of the best-kept secrets in contemporary music.
Tension, contrast and juxtaposition are words that inevitably come to mind at multiple points throughout All Smiles Tonight. Poor Creature are masters at harnessing that tension and creating soundworlds that are utterly compelling from start to finish. This is music that straddles darkness and light, and traverses the blasted terrain of loss in wholly unexpected ways, picking apart and reassembling the whole idea of folk music as it goes.
Gareth Bonello, aka The Gentle Good, has written an in-depth guide to his new album ‘Elan’ (also featuring audio and video). The album is a psychedelic portrait of Cwm Elan, the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales. It explores the landscape, history, and politics of the area that was flooded at the end of the Victorian era to create a series of reservoirs for drinking water. Out now on Bubblewrap Collective.