Lucinda Williams review – battle-scarred alt.country star burns bright
The singer brings poignancy and raw feeling to this revealing celebration of her defining album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Laura Cannell & Polly Wright: Sing as the Crow Flies review – lost voices in folktales
The duo’s album is based on a 19th-century book of Norfolk customs and ballads, decorated with powerful improvised vocals
Spell Songs: The Lost Words review – a literary landscape brought to life
The vivid, poetic nature writing of Robert Macfarlane has touched a sweet spot in the national psyche, making him a bestseller and provoking a groundswell of concern for language, landscape and history. Spell Songs sets Macfarlane’s garlanded The Lost Words … Continue reading
Kokoko!: Fongola review – commanding percussive DIY from DRC innovators
Euphoric debut album by a unique collective who use home-made instruments to bring street-party energy and punk attitude to their hybrid sound
75 Dollar Bill: I Was Real review – placeless, gripping grooves
(tak:til/Thin Wrist)
Jesca Hoop: Stonechild review – a rocky path through tragedy and joy
The brooding singer has created a knotty and sometimes maddening fifth album that holds some poignant gems
House and Land: Across the Field review – a magical recasting of music history
Electronic experimentalism duels with classic banjo sounds for this ambient, affecting new twist on American folk music
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