Albums

Jeff Crosby’s latest alt-country collection ‘Postcards from Magdalena’ is his fourth – born of both experiences and travelling the roads, places and miles in-between. The more reflective tracks stand out – none more so than the ’60s protest folk troubadour strum, Hotel Bibles.

There is a Place is the latest offering from husband-and-wife duo The Left Outsides, a truly sumptuous listening experience, totally engrossing from the first note, and each separate track refuses to let your ears go. Virtually every track sounds different, yet together they form a sequence of enviable, unexpected and yet almost disembodied unity.

Ye Vagabonds possess a strong and distinctive musical identity that celebrates its own individuality and certainly stands out from the crowd. There’s food for thought aplenty here in this stimulating debut album. We look forward to seeing where they lead us next.

Wanderer is Cara Dillon’s most satisfying album since her astonishing self-titled debut in 2001. “…something deeper is going on with Wanderer and you get the feeling this is an album that had to be recorded, rather than one that they planned.”

“The more I have listened to this album, the more interesting it has become”…Jim White enjoys telling stories and the stories on Waffles, Triangles and Jesus are as good an example of his art as you can get…this is storytelling first, with the music a very close second.

Bob Delyn a’r Ebillion return with their first album in fourteen years. Twm Morys and his band offer melodic inventiveness and lyrical panache on Dal i ‘Redig Dipyn Bach which summons images of the slate and moss of the Welsh landscape and lays bare the Welsh psyche. It is an impressive and moving piece of songwriting, in any language.

Adrian Nation’s previous albums have all been first rate but this is unquestionably his masterpiece. Anarchy and Love deserves to be championed as such.

Farewell to My Old Days is an undeniably impressive debut from Sam Brothers, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter from Canterbury who was discovered whilst busking in Brighton.

For their first full album recording, Laura Smyth and Ted Kemp seem to have successfully ignored any pressure to become the next big thing. ‘The Poachers Fate’ could almost have been made in the early 70’s, we need more music like this.

As Julie Fowlis continues to develop her broad repertoire of Gaelic song, alterum succeeds in exploring connections with other languages, cultures and art forms that enrich her music even further. Above all, though, alterum is, quite simply, an album of the most beautiful music.

With his fourth studio album The Water Of Leith released this month, Blue Rose Code continues to draw on his increasingly inventive ability, as he quietly weaves flavours from a range of musical influences and personal experience, to produce his most thoroughly absorbing album to date.

Lankum may have a new name, but they are still one of the most talented and original bands around, and Between the Earth & The Sky is a vital, bracing piece of work.