It shouldn’t come as a surprise – despite Stick in the Wheel’s fearsome, uncompromising and unashamedly experimental attitude to folk music; the live recordings featured on Endurance Soundly Caged prove that they can still engage with listeners on the most visceral of levels.
You, Golden, the first duo record from Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell, was always one to look forward to. Uplifting, probing and exciting, as well as wise and patient, it is an album to return to and savour. Excellent stuff.
With Escape That, Sam Sweeney has made his most personal record to date. His playing has never been more confident or fluid and the accompaniments are also stellar in their subtlety. It is gorgeous, joyous playing, possibly his best yet.
On ‘Time Was Away’, the perfectly matched Emily Portman and Rob Harbron have delivered an elegant and understated gem that’s beautifully atmospheric and gently beguiling. Take time to savour this treat; you’ll be much rewarded.
VRÏ’s ‘islais a genir’ is an album that honours variety and positively revels in its own complex, colourful identity, by turns thoughtful and celebratory. A formidable artistic and cultural statement.
With Sorrows Away, The Unthanks have graced us with their most extraordinary record to date. It is a tonic to lift the spirits and marks a momentous moment in the career of one of the greatest folk bands in the UK today.
We talk to Jake Blount, our current Artist of the Month, about his new album ‘The New Faith’, working with Smithsonian Folkways, the impact of climate change, the ethos of folk music and more.
Saltlines is a massive, ambitious and highly unusual project; the fact that it feels perfectly judged at every moment is down to the sheer excellence of Gigspanner Big Band’s musicianship and the touching, clear-eyed nature of everything Raynor Winn writes or speaks. It is a constant delight.
‘The Space Between’ is the sound of a band that are cooking on heat; anyone who comes into the Bonfire Radicals’ orbit is going to be hard pushed not to be swept up by this blazing folk comet.
Jake Blount’s The New Faith is an album rich with themes of hope, resilience and salvation. With a keen sense of tradition, Blount has cleverly delivered a bold, thought-provoking and judicious album…one which is also a thoroughly, staggeringly thrilling listen. Glorious.
Featuring Colm O’Connell and Rory McDaid, Rezo’s latest album ‘Sew Change’, shows that this duo are still at the forefront of presenting fresh and creative collages of sound. This is what great music is capable of being.
We catch up with Luke Daniels to chat about The Cobhers, a project started in 2019 to help bring new audiences to folk and traditional music through covering classic hits alongside folk and traditional tunes from the UK, Ireland and beyond.
