Featured Albums of the Month

On Galargan, The Gentle Good’s wisdom of Welsh folksong and histories is both reverential and contemporary. Combined with his sensitive arrangements and deep, rich, haunting vocals, it is a beautifully accomplished and irresistibly engaging album.

Aptly described as ‘Ancient Northumbrian Futurism’, Kathryn Tickell and The Darkening’s ‘Cloud Horizons’ is an electrifying and incredibly captivating album. In capturing a sound that effortlessly conjures the past whilst simultaneously referencing the present and future, they have created a rather unique and striking soundscape.

With ‘I See A World’, the Peatbog Faeries have done it again – with infectious rhythms, sublime musicianship, a fine ear for experimentation, and a loving respect for Scots tradition, this is a rousing and breath-taking album – they sound as passionate, eager, and energised as they’ve ever been.

Rónán Ó Snodaigh & Myles O’Reilly’s ‘The Beautiful Road’, is a calmative, a sonic balm in times of literal and metaphorical noise, but also a reminder of the verve and the life that can still exist in music. It’s an exceptional feat.

Haar might be Lauren MacColl’s most accomplished and rewarding work to date, an ambitious album of painterly beauty, on which the sadness of experience is offset by the constant awareness of the world’s wonders and complexities.  

On ‘Land’, an immersive album of depth and subtlety, Liz Hanks helps us understand how a place changes over time. She reads her surroundings like a vast physical palimpsest, peeling away roads and buildings to examine the earthy underbelly, the strata of human activity and natural change.

The music across the twelve tracks of Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay is diverse and dynamic, ebbing and flowing like a river, evoking nature and the outdoors wonderfully. Assured in its composition and immaculate in its execution, this one is a must.

Damir Imamović’s latest album, The World and all that it Holds, is a beautiful, crystal clear, unpretentious and direct offering. Produced by Joe Boyd and released on Folkways, it is a triumph and delight on so many levels and is performed with the utmost skill and soul.

Gnoss’s ‘Stretching Skyward’ is an exciting and invigorating album. Alongside an intoxicating fusion of instruments, there is a well-earned quiet confidence on show, with a soft, subtle touch of Americana filtering through the band’s more traditional Scottish sound; it’s an innovative, accomplished meld.

It may have taken a while, but with ‘We Are Only Sound’, Lucy Farrell has given us a bold debut album of rare sophistication, and a moving document of an emotional few years.

For their latest album Sølvstrøk, Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola created a Chamber Orchestra, adding another dimension to their sound while maintaining the duo’s integrity. It is music that is as wonderfully performed as it is confident and generous; another masterpiece.

Cinder Well’s ‘Cadence’ is something of a journey. Meandering, non-linear, but full of care and wisdom, it is an astonishingly powerful piece of work that seems to have been conceived in uncertainty but realised with the supreme assurance of one of the most consummate songwriters around.