Reviews

Mairi Orr connects both sides of the Atlantic on her debut full length album. The Scottish Folk and American Bluegrass traditions are the cornerstones, yet what makes the album richer is Orr’s gathering of other connected styles. The first three tracks offer a whirlwind journey through these influences; from the sombre and atmospheric ‘The Drover’,… Read more »

Areas of High Traffic is the follow up to Damien’s 2010 album Summer Hill. This album sees Damien tackling some of the most popular and iconic trad Irish songs. Simply put, many of these iconic songs are so over done that O’Kane has avoided them for years, yet his love for them has drawn him… Read more »

With ‘I Dreamt I Was A Bird’ the evolution of Lucy Ward continues, she has a resolute refusal to play it safe, discovering new things she can do with her voice and pushing the boundaries of her own songwriting. With this album Lucy bares her soul and tears into many of the demons she sees… Read more »

Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin had a huge debut with ‘Mynd’ so expectations are high for their follow up. If you have seen them live over the past year or so you will know their repertoire goes far beyond the songs on Mynd, festival appearances in particular have featured the virtuoso techniques that Phillip applies… Read more »

Mountain Meeting is indeed a good name, within Bridget Marsden and Leif Ottosson’s music is a sense of massive space underscored with a level of detail that focuses ones attention ever deeper. Their debut album consists of eleven tracks that are their interpretations of traditional tunes along with their own compositions. Marsden’s violin playing is… Read more »

Katriona and Jamie return with their fourth album, ‘Conflict Tourism’, and they continue their upward trajectory. This time around there is a central theme of them as observers of the threads of conflict running through us and the world that we live in. During the past couple of years touring the duo picked up on… Read more »

Acid Croft, the original and genuine, since 1990. Now with added mouth music. Accept no substitutes. Most I guess would have been quite contented with another straight forward Shooglenifty album, but when you’re the originators of a whole new funky Caledonian genre then resting on your laurels isn’t an option. The question is not if… Read more »

Note the absent capitals – somewhat confusing – ‘na-mara’ alias Paul McNamara and Rob Garcia, delve into the continent to source a good percentage of this, their third album, whether it be the adaptation of Spanish and French trad or as inspiration for their own writing. Only to be expected when you scratch under the… Read more »

Received wisdom guides that reviews always begin with some kind of background, an explanation maybe….well, fiddlesticks to that. Put straight, you need Blackhouse, don’t read any further, it’s seven shades of brilliant! Received wisdom you see could never apply to The Peatbog Faeries. If you’ve started this second paragraph instead of rushing out the door… Read more »

Yeti Love is a duo of songwriters Peter Hamilton and Dave Sears. Hamilton is half Spanish with roots in Galicia and a lot of the rhythmic patterns of the regions folk music have fed into Yeti Loves sound. Add to that his and Sears backgrounds in rock bands and you have a pretty powerful mix,… Read more »