Albums

While Hiss Golden Messenger shares the sentiments of many on the current state of affairs – he chooses to look to a brighter tomorrow, banging the drum for hope as he sings “I feel like my luck is turning…..We’ll be alright tonight.”  Hallelujah to that.

Variously likened to Mojave 3, Neil Young and Mazzy Star, Dripping Springs might be best described as Dream Americana, this is certain to expand Joana Serrat’s following and bolster her scrapbook of glowing reviews even further.

Heart of the Cave is an album inspired by an invite to explore Osimo, a town in Italy under whose streets lie 2,500-year-old caves with tunnels that once hosted religious secret societies. It’s an album that touches on the core of existence and spirituality and the shadows that hover around the fringes.

Too Dark For Country, a four-song EP by actress/musician Anjana Vasan is the first release from Folkroom Records in three years but it’s been well worth the wait. Recalling at times the authenticity and freshness of Hurray For The Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra’s early rootsier efforts.

Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton, founding members of The Be Good Tanyas, re-join forces for Wildflower Blues. A very welcome reunion and hopefully just the beginning of an ongoing partnership. They are on tour in the UK & Ireland during October 2017.

Pretty Peggy firmly adds Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys to the list of artists who are proving that great party bands are no longer the exclusive domain of the Scottish & Irish music scenes. Pretty Peggy is easily one of the best albums to come from the ever-growing world of youthful folk music.

Small Believer is the latest offering from Portland singer-songwriter Anna Tivel. She offers insightful and often moving images of ordinary lives drawn from stories heard while out on the road. Open, honest and deeply affecting, it’s her best work yet. 

John Smith’s Headlong is a restrained and affecting album from a master craftsman. What it lacks in happy hooks, it makes up for in slow-burn – these are songs to enjoy as they unfold over many listens.

Songs from the Attic is very much a personal journey by Hampshire-based musician and journalist Jon Wilks. His love for folk music manifests itself throughout this lovely album.

Afterglow is a full, large scale and grand piece of work that is as intelligent as it is entertaining, and it confirms Jon Boden as one of the most interesting and exciting British singers and arrangers currently working.

Strength and courage is what ‘Strangers’ is all about. Despite the hardships it describes, there is barely a moment on this album that doesn’t hum with positivity. The Young’uns have perfected a sound that is as unique as it is uplifting, and it would be no surprise if their already burgeoning popularity were to rise to even greater heights.

If there are any listeners who might harbour the thought that the presentation of “one man and his box” would by now be sounding a touch tired, then this thoroughly refreshing new John Kirkpatrick album should convince them otherwise. It finds him in splendid voice and both nimble and sparky in his perennially expert squeezeboxery.