Albums

Della Mae deliver a compelling set with ‘Family Reunion’. Tracing themes of both loss and hope, it’s up there with their very best. This is one get together you will really want to celebrate.

One of Serious Sam Barrett’s stated aims was to release “a proper folk record”, he has succeeded admirably. The Seeds Of Love is a top-class release, sincerely delivered with alluring vocals and exemplary music throughout.

If her debut offered an initial promise that Kashena Sampson was a timeless voice for the years, ‘Time Machine’ is a 24-carat confirmation that she belongs in the ranks of the greats.  Her gold will not tarnish.

Burning Your Light finds Brigid Mae Power addressing the work of other songwriters from Bob Dylan to Aretha Franklin. While no easy task, her light shines all the brighter for it. An excellent EP.

The music of Scots trad group Heisk has a sense of electricity both literally and figuratively, creating something totally unique. Heisk is the sound of a band that will not be denied. Their music is irresistible.

The songs on Shirley Collins’ ‘Crowlink’ are simultaneously ancient and new. It is an EP that can be elementally charged or unnervingly intimate but is never less than exquisite. 

Lila Tristram shares her highlights from this year’s Green Man Festival which culminated in the burning of the Green Man, the perfect ceremonial ritual to celebrate the long, long-awaited reunion of artists, fans and friends.

Calling to mind the summer of love, The Heartless Bastards’ ‘A Beautiful Life’, serves as a reminder that it’s a beautiful life and it’s one that deserves to be lived and celebrated.

Despite the difficulties and the blood sweat and tears behind this album, it holds together perfectly as a fully coherent whole. Phil Odgers’ “Ghosts of Rock n Roll’ is a wonderful record of folky pop and melancholic twang that demands your ears.

Individually, the four albums that form Blek’s Catharsis Project are each standout works, together forming a heart-swelling conceptual quartet. The finale, On Ether & Air, which is fuelled by and founded on an intermingling of loss and hope, proves a triumphant climax.

The Burner Band’s ‘Signs and Wonders’ is a bristlingly confident, musically infectious and assured debut. While they only once break the three-minute mark, they deliver by simply going in, doing the job, and getting out again with a less is more attitude.

The line-up on David Ferguson’s ‘Nashville No More’ is a testament to the respect this celebrated Nashville musician commands. This debut album is a testament to the fact he most certainly deserves it.