rescuing musical virtue in distress.
It’s been a while since Jay Elle emerged from the towering stacks of new music to be reviewed on my desk but I remember the ep last time around, Rising Tide, being a great collection of songs which blended accessible pop spirit and a more rootsy approach to instrumentation and delivery. And it would seem... Continue Reading →
Last time out Sean Shiff delivered that rarest of things, a song about politics that wasn’t political. By that I mean that he showed us the gentle art of talking about our differences without taking sides, something that we seem to have lost. But if That’s Just Fine saw him delve into social commentary, Medicine... Continue Reading →
It’s always fascinating to track an artist’s evolution over a number of years and Tamsin Quin is someone who has followed a wonderful path as a musician, artist and performer. To be honest, it’s always been in her, even in the early days a certain charm and charisma, humour and confidence was obvious and the... Continue Reading →
Family Tree is a timely reminder that as humans, no matter where we come from, whatever our situation, our back story or life journey to date, there is always going to be more that connects us, more common ground to celebrate than that which seperates us. It’s worth remembering, more so now that ever at... Continue Reading →
Just as before, Shadowfields bring us a song that is happy to wander around in the centre of a Venn diagram at a point where pop, rock, ballads, high-drama, soothing sounds , gypsy vibes and emotive roots styles all have some sort of interplay. As with Awake, it isn't quite one thing or another and... Continue Reading →
No matter what your rootsy preference, Tentrees and Haldane seem to have things covered. Grit is a suite of songs which effortlessly combines the best aspects of acoustic, folk and country genres. The playing is a deft and intricate without seeming showy or unnecessarily bandwagony, concise picking and lovely riffing provides a structure which is... Continue Reading →
Forget, “you had me at hello, “ this latest musical jaunt from TTMTMS had me at the cover illustration, one seemingly taken from an Edward Lear publication. Not that it says much about the music itself but it does tell me something about the way they think and the things they find amusing. Truth be... Continue Reading →
Roots music, like most generic labels, is too broad a term to really convey anything useful to the listener. It covers all sorts of world, folk and traditional sounds, sounds that seem to lie at the beating heart of one culture or another and also seems to imply a nostalgic backward glance to a sound... Continue Reading →
Rhode Island four-piece Deer Tick have put together something of a miniature ‘Best Of’ compiled from selected songs from their two previous albums (Deer Tick Vol 1 and 2 respectively) but have also included cover versions of songs that inspired the original recordings AND new compositions, so, all in all, a bumper pack of audio... Continue Reading →