Albums

Margo Cilker’s third album “Little White Cross” comes from a place of darkness, full of gun violence, wildfires and abuse, but seeks glimmers of light. Bruce Robison sits behind the desk for a mix of originals and well-chosen covers. Forget any future comparisons to Lucinda; this is the here-and-now Margo Cilker, and she’s magnificent.

Good Habits’ “Better for Now” pushes outwards, from festival-ready trance-folk to intimate acoustic balladry. An overriding spirit of positivity runs through songs about body image and burnout, all carried on buoyant melodies. The result is a blend of virtuosity and sheer vitality, making them one of the most exciting bands on the British folk scene right now, and one of the most technically accomplished. 

Verdin Brothers’ “The Crooked Serpent” stitches together blues, Creole, bluegrass and drone into something all their own, with a healthy dollop of the weird. A companion recording, “The Great Work,” gives each song something like an alter ego. A singular work of high art and painstaking detail.

Martin Simpson’s “Some Kind of Jubilee” is a seventeen-song double album, made in the US and the UK to mark half a century since his debut. Veterans and newcomers play alongside him. The music is rich without ever being overplayed, and the vocals are warm and engaging. The album is a real achievement and a career highlight. Take a bow.

Biita Houdei’s solo debut “This Bed Was Made For Me” challenges quickfire disposability head-on. She sewed a patch for each of its fourteen songs, then recorded them over ten full, back-to-back days. The result exudes personality and feeling, a testament to the slow process and the commitment and patience required to create a complete work of art.

Jason McNiff talks through his latest album, Ten Blue Songs, which was recorded and produced live by Trevor Moss. Clarinet, double bass, piano, and violin accompany him on an album whose influences include Italo Calvino, Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, and guitar legend Davy Graham. “This album is evidence of our working life and couldn’t exist without the gigs”.

Digressions #4 – Living Slow EP is the latest in John Blek’s series of download-only releases available via Bandcamp. From the minstrel-folk-mottled opener to the piano-waltzing closer, it’s a sublime and moodily atmospheric offering.

Jake Blount’s “Single-Footing Horse” has him coming full circle, returning to the old-time mountain music played by Appalachian string bands that first nurtured him. It’s a joyous and technically brilliant batch of tunes, every bit as potent – and, in a way, just as experimental – as his earlier forays into afrofuturism.

The Owl Service’s “Tied to the Land” is their first album in a decade, a lineup change bringing Dorothy Chappell and Rebecca Lievers alongside bandleader Steven Collins for a joyous rendering of traditional songs, instrumentals and an adaptation of a Cornish folk tale. It’s a potent brew that supercharges the album’s 10-year-overnight success.

Charlie Parr’s “Rooming House” is a seven-song suite that follows John, who inherits a boarding house and rents rooms to those on the poverty line. Opening track “Duluth 1964” drops us into unthinkable trauma, and the title track’s quiet meal scene turns into a real gut-punch. Twenty albums into a celebrated career, Parr may have delivered his masterpiece.

Scott Cook’s “Troubadourly Yours” is his eighth album, six years in the making, deeply autobiographical, and echoing the spirit of Woody Guthrie. Recorded in Edmonton, it moves from union solidarity to family history and from a critique of consumerism to a call for inclusivity and embracing diversity – this truly is a brilliant sign-off of the times.

Myles na gCopaleen’s An Béal Bocht sets out Irish identity as a series of gaps between expectation and reality. Trá Pháidín recognise that those gaps still exist, detect the places where they are widening, and – quite brilliantly – attempt to draw them together with a keen ear for the absurd and an impressive mastery of musical forms old and new, one that includes avant jazz, krautrock, and modern composition.