rescuing musical virtue in distress.
The art of painting makes for a great allusion when it comes to describing music. Some pieces are built of riots of colour, paint liberally applied and full of texture others are fashioned from delicate washes used in harmony with the emptiness of the blank canvas to merely outline the subject. In such an analogy,... Continue Reading →
There are many myths and fallacies to be found witinin music. The biggest has to be that it is a younger persons game. Perhaps from a marketing point of view for fly-by-night indie bands or transient pop-tarts, but when it comes to what really matters, the music itself, how can it not improve as the... Continue Reading →
There are two assumptions that could be drawn when you listen to any album which seems to wander between a whole range of genres and heads off to explore various musical tangents. Either the artist is unfocused, inconsistent, perhaps even unsure of themselves or they feel unbound by generic convention and they chose the style and... Continue Reading →
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 →
Sven Jørgensen freely admits to being a a fan of nineties music but unlike many others enamoured with the era, instead of ploughing a singular music furrow, of trying to rework Brit-pop, resurrect the Seattle sound or wander some dusty alt-country byways, he takes a much wider approach. For whilst the sound of On/Off Generation... Continue Reading →
No video for this one, just a slice of emotive and minimal Americana from one of the best bands on the UK roots circuit. Case Hardin have been slowly building a strong following through energetic and heart-felt live shows and some finely crafted songs. This mellow moment comes from the album PM, but you can... Continue Reading →
It’s reassuring to find Arthur Rivers exactly where I left him last time, kicking off the album with the previously encountered single You’re the Ocean Waves, You’re the Sea. And although this gentle and wonderfully wonky folk creation gives you a hint at the soft textures and delicate treatments that make up the rest of... Continue Reading →
On an increasingly packed shelf of roots music stands an artist who is quietly going about his business, blending and blurring the lines between country, folk and blues and playing shows all over the place, and picking up friends and followers as he goes. If you’re a follower of Mark Harrison, or keep an eye... Continue Reading →
Frank Sinatra once said “it’s not the song it’s the singer” and if singers are your thing you should definitely listen to the growly voice of North Carolina native Malcolm Holcombe. With a voice like a canoe being dragged across the pavement his earthy, world-weary words turn these country songs into fables and brings a... Continue Reading →
Gregory Alan Isakov’s new song, 'Dark, Dark, Dark,' has just premiered publicly. Of the album, Billboard proclaims, “The 12-song set wound up sounding more characteristically ruminative…blending a gentle spaciousness with dusky atmospheres and carefully nuanced textures.” 'Dark, Dark, Dark' is the third track unveiled from Isakov’s anticipated new album, 'Evening Machines'. The release, his first in partnership with... Continue Reading →
My knowledge of folk is limited, I find it hard to listen to the British working-class stories of toil, trouble and industry, but I admire and respect the roots of the genre. The instruments; acoustic and organic, the lyrics; heartfelt and honest and the genres popularity grows by the week. What Colorado-based singer/songwriter Gregory Alan... Continue Reading →
Those with their ear close to the grass roots end of the music spectrum, the place where jobbing troubadours and sonic dreamers wander with little concern for fame and fortune, have long been aware of the potency and potential of both David Celia and Marla for many years. One an expert in pop melodies and... Continue Reading →
It’s nice to know that in this age of meticulous studio production, where even the smallest amount of natural talent can go a long way with the right engineer and the right box of tricks, that some people are still making albums in much more honest ways. Tony Rose’s solo album is just such a... Continue Reading →
In the movie Jerry Maguire there is the often-quoted line “you had me at hello” and when I was given the press release regarding this album it had me at “cello”. The cello is one of a handful of instruments that I never tire of hearing in music, this is partly because I’m always interested... Continue Reading →
Trent Miller is a great example of why the various tribal demarcations found in music, its generic barriers, its tribal affinities, its journalistic pigeon-holing and listener driven expectations, are all attitudes that thankfully are receding into the past. For whilst it is easy to hear the references to outlaw and fringe country heroes of the... Continue Reading →
There is an art to making music which seems to buzz with contemporary vibes yet echos with the sounds of the past but that is exactly the mix that James Donnelly manages to bring to On The Radio. In an era where pop music, because this is pop as much as it is folk or... Continue Reading →
Whilst many bands see the way forward as trying to create totally new musical platforms, they look ahead only seeking to creating something cutting edge, to use technology to invent the future, others know that in the cyclical nature of things there really is very little new to be had. Nothing of any real worth... Continue Reading →
Dancing with the Beast, the new album from Gretchen Peters, puts female characters at the fore, from teenage girls to old women. And intentionally so. With the 2017 Women’s March and the #MeToo Movement as bookends to her writing time, Peters knew that a feminist perspective would be the critical core of the record. She... Continue Reading →
If the fashion of the moment seems to be pop and indie bands appropriating retro and roots goodness to add cool and credibility to their sound, True Strays have always made music for more honest reasons. Yes, there are a host of indie bands folking up and rock bands bluesing out at the moment in... Continue Reading →
As well as having a fantastic name, The Happy Curmudgeons, make a sort of music which seems to have fallen out of fashion, but much deserves a revival. Think of where the genres of folk and rock intersect today and it is normally in the much overdone punked up Celtic traditions or an attempt to... Continue Reading →
This first outing in a planned trilogy of albums under the arching title of the “Texas Series” is a masterfully understated slice of rootsy, country acoustica or as the artist himself refers to it Freestyle folk. The songs found within has a wonderfully DIY quality, in part due to the sparse nature of the music,... Continue Reading →
