Reviews

The Smoke Fairies are back, mainlining a delicious vibration that hits deep in your soul. A darkness slowly steals over you, loving in its claustrophobia, as familiar as the cradle and disconcerting as the grave. They have toyed with the light and the darkness, but realised that the darkness holds the truth for them. Just… Read more »

It would have been easy for Anaïs Mitchell to bask in the glory of her multi award winning theatrical creation, ‘Hadestown’. If she simply wanted to revisit her love of traditional folk songs, she could have dropped back alongside Jefferson Hamer with whom she recorded the ‘Child Ballads’ album. However, restless creative spirit that she… Read more »

At a pivotal time in Amy’s life – birth and death have intertwined – comes an album which manages to encapsulate the big issues in life. Opening track takes an Ozymandian approach to mortality, questioning what we build and what lasts set to a piano and orchestral sweep. “Grace of God” follows in a more… Read more »

A new release from this fabulous band is always a cause for celebration, especially when it is their first collection of new material for a decade. Seven Elana James’ compositions and five from Whit Smith make up 12 of the album’s 15 tracks. A generous running time of nearly an hour sees the band veer… Read more »

Of late, music releases from Terry Allen have proved almost as elusive as the whale in the title of his latest, ‘Just Like Moby Dick’. That’s not to accuse him of being lazy as he keeps himself busy enough with his art – a quick look at his website will reveal this. So, as a… Read more »

That we are living in strange times is an indisputable fact. Over the last six months I’ve ping-ponged between wanting to bury my head in the sand and seeking citizenship of virtually anywhere that isn’t here (or America). I used to look to music to pull me out of a hole, put my hat straight,… Read more »

We Banjo 3 are actually a quartet made up of Enda Scahill. (Tenor banjo, vocals) Martin (tenor banjo, mandolin, vocals) & David Howey (lead vocals, guitar) and Fergal Scahill brother of Enda is a celebrated Irish fiddle player who also contributes via viola, dobro, percussion, guitar, mandolin and vocals. Known as one of the best… Read more »

Welcome to our review round up by Simon Jones of other releases received and duly considered, November 2019:   Postcards & Pocketbooks. – Bella Hardy Subtitled‘The Best Of,’ it’s hard to credit it that ten years have passed since Bella Hardy debuted, winning a pile of gongs and awards since, perhaps a decade is a… Read more »

Luke Jackson’s got a sharp eye and a computer memory. The title holds significance, Journals is the recorded equivalent of cinema verite wherein melody and lyric form pictures in your mind as Jackson’s world view unfolds. We live in uncertain times at any level you care to mention, what’s revealed here is just how deep… Read more »

With a nod in the direction of Banksy, Chris While and Julie Matthews deliver again on a set which is their strongest in many a moon, amplified by the fact underneath all the calm there flows a river of anger, frustration and fire, balanced by ever present compassion. Hasn’t it always been so? From the… Read more »