Reviews

To say these guys showed early promise would be an understatement of huge proportions. They started on the moonlit path of folk music whilst still at school, sounding like they somehow had decades of experiences stored up to bring forth in music and song. Critical and popular acclaim has followed everything they do and Utopia… Read more »

A lot of the press surrounding the release is stressing the involvement of the Show of Hands crew, Knightley and Beer lending their formidable talents is a huge plus, not least as it is that duo who spotted the potential of McDonald years back when he pressed a demo into their hands. Light The Evening… Read more »

The Gigspanner Big Band is actually the melding of Gigspanner and Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, this recording was made at Nettlebed Folk Club back in January 2017 and has been one of those low-key releases that always end up being in high demand (Remember those bootleg cassettes of live gigs that used to circulate?)…. Read more »

Bedford and Simmonds continue their winning creative streak with an album full of ‘love, madness and obsession’. Their songs dig deep into those pillars of folk and blues inspiration; people at the edge and slowly tipping over it – psychological disintegration rarely sounds this good however. Songs My Ruiner Gave To Me is a delicious… Read more »

If you only ever buy one album of morris and folk dance tunes it had best be this one. Will Pound has billed this as ‘A Year in Morris and Folk Dance’ but it is far more than that, just reading the liner notes and following up on all of the places and morris sides… Read more »

Ninebarrow is the Dorset based duo of Jon Whitley and Jay Labouchardiere, and The Waters and the Wild is their third album. It shares many things in common with their previous work, not least an impressive excellence in writing, performing, musicianship, recording and creativity – These guys don’t seem to have ever had any rough… Read more »

Despite the old adage about not judging a book by its cover, one can’t help but be be struck by the eye-catching psychedelic art-work, presented in stark black-and-white, on Hannah Sanders’ and Ben Savage’s latest offering ‘Awake. This is the first album from the Cambridge-based duo since 2016’s critically-acclaimed ‘Before The Sun.’ Sanders’ dusky voice… Read more »

These two Nordic Titans continue to explore the history, culture and landscape of Norway that they successfully transformed into a musical landscape on their previous album Skuggsjá. Their latest album, Hugsjá (meaning to see with, or within, the mind), is the recorded culmination of a commission by the Bergen International Festival in 2017. There was… Read more »

Finbar Furey’s career is wrapped around the roots of Irish folk music. He started as a backing musician for The Clancy Brothers before forming The Fureys and leading this family based band for nearly thirty years. In the 1990s, his talents as musician, songwriter, producer and actor burst forth in a solo career which has… Read more »

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have developed a strong partnership in more ways than one. On the one hand, the arrival of their children caused a short break in the early part of their career and yet, on the other, their musical roles have become both distinct and complementary. Basically, Kathryn provides vocals, piano and… Read more »