River Lea

Tension, contrast and juxtaposition are words that inevitably come to mind at multiple points throughout All Smiles Tonight. Poor Creature are masters at harnessing that tension and creating soundworlds that are utterly compelling from start to finish. This is music that straddles darkness and light, and traverses the blasted terrain of loss in wholly unexpected ways, picking apart and reassembling the whole idea of folk music as it goes.

Sam Amidon shares his new single/video ‘I’m On My Journey Home’ and announces his forthcoming album ‘Salt River’, on which he continues his decades-long quest to recontextualise what it means to sing folk songs or make folk music.

Compiled by Lankum’s Ian Lynch, Fire Draw Near is an essential and worthy anthology for anyone with an interest in traditional music and song, it’s also a thoroughly enjoyable, irresistible and inspiring set of songs and tunes.

River Lea announces Fire Draw Near – an album of Irish traditional songs and music from the archives, compiled by Ian Lynch of Dublin band Lankum which will be released on October 8th, 2021.

River Lea is a record label run by Geoff Travis & Jeannette Lee of Rough Trade along with music journalist Tim Chipping. We chat with Tim about how the label came to be which features Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds and Brìghde Chaimbeul, all of whom have picked up BBC Folk Award nominations this year.

Lisa O’Neill announces ‘Heard A Long Gone Song’, her first album for the new Rough Trade imprint River Lea. It’s a record that is personally political, uniquely beautiful, heartfelt and witty. And perhaps as timeless as the passed down songs Lisa sings as if they were hers.