Park Jiha: Philos review – Korean experimenter transcends old and new
Using no more than three instruments on each track, Jiha’s music expresses as much emotion as words could convey
Jake Xerxes Fussell: Out of Sight review – upcycled folk songs with an edge
(Paradise of Bachelors)
Jake Xerxes Fussell: Out of Sight review – peppy, sensual, murderous visions of folk
Fussell’s exceptional covers show how folk songs seep into funk, rock and soul, while making them decidedly his own
Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds: Singing It All Back Home review – vivid and crackling with life
Polished, spirited revisions of traditional Appalachian songs are joyfully and effortlessly rendered
The Little Unsaid: Atomise review – bold and different
John Elliott, AKA the Little Unsaid, could as easily trade under the “rock” banner as that of folk, but being an acoustic-led singer-songwriter, Elliott comes under the F-word in the same way as Joni Mitchell and Roy Harper. Like them, … Continue reading
Aldous Harding review – conundrums you can dance to
The New Zealand singer-songwriter begins touring her third album, Designer
Big Thief: UFOF review – full of subtle charm
Listening to Big Thief’s third album, UFOF (the second “F” standing for “friend”), it’s evident that it was informed more by where it was recorded – rural Washington state – than by the band’s Brooklyn home. These exquisitely rendered folk-based … Continue reading
Rhiannon Giddens With Francesco Turrisi: There Is No Other review – a folk landmark
Stellar folk musician joins forces with Italian multi-instrumentalist to connect African and Arabic sounds with traditional forms – it’s stunning
Josephine Foster review – endearingly odd musician casts a spell
St Luke’s, LondonWith a dissonant soprano and lyrics about benevolence and old-time faith, Foster expertly weaves ancient and modern
Aldous Harding: Designer review – a true original
Had Aldous Harding remained preserved in aspic, with just two mesmeric, folk-adjacent albums to her name, she would still be numbered among this generation’s true originals. Renown and greater budgets have allowed this New Zealander to trade up to a … Continue reading
Aldous Harding: Designer review – cryptic charm and shimmering psychedelic pop
Her lyrics are inscrutable and her vocal and visual stylings eccentric, but Harding’s third album is a thing of beauty
From Here: English Folk Field Recordings Volume 2 review – unvarnished voices fire the form
Various artists(From Here Records)From June Tabor to Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, Richard Dawson to Grace Petrie, artists known and new interpret ‘from here’
Marry Waterson & Emily Barker: A Window to Other Ways review – a good fit
(One Little Indian)
Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening: Hollowbone review – a clever shape-shifter of a record
No one has evoked the landscape and traditions of Northumbria more affectingly than Kathryn Tickell; a champion of the Northumbrian pipes, she is steeped in the songs and mythology of the north-east. Although she has issued more than a dozen … Continue reading