Albums

On their new album ‘Interesting Times’, Basco invite you to ‘listen, ponder and sip your drink, and we’ll see you all out there tomorrow ready to sniff the air, feel the grass, and see which road seems better’. You should accept the invitation.

It’s impossible to listen to Marry Waterson without the inevitable comparison to her mother, Lal. However, this album is firm evidence that while the apple may not have fallen far from the tree, it has grown into very much its own orchard, one made all the richer by her partnership with David A. Jaycock. This is one to treasure.

The Glasgow welcome that Skipinnish received on Friday night was beyond exuberant. The audience was in a euphoric mood throughout, and it’s heart-warming to see a band whose core audience is in the north-west of Scotland enjoy such an enthusiastic welcome in the heart of Glasgow.

The unsurpassed sense of delight and commonality in Mac Ìle is nothing short of exhilarating. It’s as if there’s freedom among Fraser Shaw’s melodies and memories for this jubilant collective to express themselves like never before.

The Rails’ ‘Other People’ has a supremely classy feel, and the music is pure gold. In terms of both writing and execution, its ten original songs exude an even more finely honed classiness than those on their well-received debut ‘Fair Warning’.

On Acoustic Rarities, Richard Thompson offers an opportunity to see the scope of his multiple talents. As well as giving us new takes on familiar songs there are a few gems balanced out by some fantastic new material.

What Jiggy do most successfully is prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that music is the heart and soul of the thriving, all-embracing multi-cultural arts scene in the Irish Republic. Translate is an exceptional and intoxicating album that will find its way into the heart and soul of an ever-increasing audience.

Gathering is Josh Ritter’s best collection so far of fractured and fearful characters who are battling the elements and their own inner demons. The album itself is a roller coaster of emotion with Ritter mining a rich seam of Americana music.

Johnny shares some his many highlights of this year’s FolkEast festival including The Young’uns, Jon Boden, Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys, Martin Carthy, Hughie Jones, Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage, LAU, Dan Walsh, Will Pound, Damien O’Kane and many more.

On Rosie Hoods ‘The Beautiful & The Actual’ there are songs of “life, and death, love and betrayal, beautiful melodies and hauntingly sad lyrics.” A debut album of pure delight.

On The East Pointers latest album, they blend the unexpected and traditional, ‘What We Leave Behind’ is certainly a breath of fresh air that blows straight from Eastern Canada.

Gwyneth Glyn’s ‘Tro’ is less an album and more a journey: to the quiet, longed-for corners of Wales, but also across the world, taking in West Africa and the Asian subcontinent. And it is an inward journey, an exploration of love and its many meanings and guises. As a whole, it is a poetic and deeply moving experience.