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Artist: Ben Walker
Release Date: 14th September, 2018
Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Record Label: Folkroom Records
Tracks: 4
Website:
A excellent new EP from Ben Walker a fantastic producer and one half of the multi award wining duo Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker. Ben a superb guitar player and this instrumental EP positively sparkles with musicianship and creatively.
Artist: John Smith
Release Date: 5th October, 2018
Genre: Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
Record Label: Commoner Records
Tracks: 10
Website: https://www.johnsmithjohnsmith.com
John Smith is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist from Devon, England. He has played to audiences all over the world in living rooms, festival tents and sold-out concert halls. He is a genuine folksinger, an inquisitive truth-seeker, devoted song interpreter, and enchanting writer. A contributor and collaborator, John quickly and effortlessly earns the esteem of his comrades and heroes. He has opened for folk greats including John Martyn, Davy Graham and John Renbourn, who called John Smith the future of folk music. On the contemporary side, he has also opened for Iron and Wine, Tinariwen, and Ben Howard. He has guested with artists such as Jackson Browne, Jerry Douglas, Glen Hansard and Rodney Crowell. He has played guitar for artists such as David Gray, Lisa Hannigan, Joe Henry and Joan Baez.
John described his reason for making Hummingbird "Ever since my teenage epiphany at the altar of Folk Music, hearing Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn for the first time, I have been a devotee. The six strings of my guitar have granted me access to a sacred space between things, the unconscious interweaving sensations that allow us that gentle buzz on hearing a good folk song. It was with this in mind that I returned to Sam Lakeman s Somerset studio in March of 2018, two years since recording my previous album Headlong in that same place, to commit six of my favourite folk songs to tape, alongside one cover version and three original songs. The tracks quickly took on their own shape in Sam s able hands. I invited several good friends to join me in this process: Cara Dillon, John McCusker and Ben Nicholls"
Artist: Phillip Henry
Release Date: 5th October, 2018
Genre: Folk, Americana
Record Label: Dragonfly Roots
Tracks: 11
Website:
In the autumn of 2018, Phillip Henry will celebrate the release of his long awaited solo album ‘True North’ with a national tour. Commemorating ten years since his journey to Kolkata to study under the great slide guitarist Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya,
‘True North’ charts a life spent travelling the globe, collecting tunes, stories, and instruments. From music written whilst kangaroo spotting in Australia, to tunes learnt from a Canadian maestro on First Nations reservation land in Canada; songs of the road; and pieces written by musician friends from Kent to Kolkata ; the album's diversity is matched only by the virtuosity of Henry's playing. One musician, one instrument, is the guiding principle; yet instruments range from mellow Weissenborn depths to spectacular Dobro flourishes, to the sounds of the rare Indian Chaturangui (a 22 string guitar from the sub-continent). Here is a fusion of global styles deeply infused with Henry's British folk roots, and brought together with a considered beauty all his own.
Phillip Henry is an in demand performer whose collaborations with fellow musicians such as Peter Knight (Steeleye Span), Steve Knightley (Show of Hands), and Hannah Martin (Edgelarks), have led to the evolution of a unique instrumental style that has wowed audiences around the world. Now he is preparing to take his solo show on the road with a very special series of concerts. As well as his collection of slide guitars, his show-stopping beatbox harmonica, a great favourite with audiences, is sure to make an appearance. Featuring old favourites, and material from True North, this will be an evening to inspire the mind and lighten the soul.
After releasing an excellent and one of our LCM featured albums 'To My Roots' in 2017, Emma returns with a brand new EP entitled 'Atoms'. It's being crowd-funded and released through Pledge music with a release date planned towards the end of 2018.
If you would like to support Emma's project or purchase others exclusive goodies, please head on over via the link below.
Artist: Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith
Release Date: 7th September, 2018
Genre: Folk
Record Label: Ear Trumpet Music
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.jimmyandsidduo.com/
Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
The release of their critically acclaimed second album 'Night Hours' in 2016 cemented Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith's reputation as two of the most exciting musicians and social commentators on the British folk scene. Songs have always taken center stage with Jimmy and Sid and on 'Many A Thousand' we see the duo flexing not only their vocal and instrumentation skills, but also their talent as composers. Part of what makes this compelling duo tick is a love of traditional folk song and a mutual passion for the history that is carried in the music.
On 'Many A Thousand' the past and present sit side by side, with original songs more than comfortably holding their own next to the traditional. Another crucial element to this partnership is a shared world-view: sustainability, traditional crafts and living in tune with the land, all elements that deeply inform their music.
The album opens with the thought provoking ‘Hope and Glory’, a response to the rise of nationalism in England. A cautionary tale of falsely romanticising the past in order to stoke the fear of change. This defiant song shows that we must not misuse our shared history in this way. The traditional Bothy ballad ‘Working Chap’ depicts the struggles of poverty and working very hard to make ends meet. Something that resonates very clearly today, as many people in the UK are still ‘just about managing (JAM)’. The song contains an additional verse added by Martin Cathy, who first recorded the song in 1990. “They are working live out…. to keep life in” .
The powerful ‘Turning Of The Year’ tells of the unique ability of the elements to heal and restore us. Following a difficult period in their lives Jimmy and his partner were caught in a huge storm on the Cornish cliffs on New Year’s Day. They returned alarmed but completely renewed. With it’s hypnotic drone backing the traditional ‘Reedcutter’s Daughter’ tells the tale of a traveler who falls in love with a girl from Hoveton, a village very close to where they both grew up. The traveler has to decide whether to settle down with his love or follow the call of the road. This album recording of the song using the organ of St. Helens in Hoveton. Another very thought provoking and atmospheric song ‘The Last Ploughshare’ was written by John Connolly in response to a call from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for songs about the mistreatment of our natural world.
The haunting and beautiful ‘The Hawks Call’ is a re-write of the slave spiritual ‘No More Auction Block’, imagining a world of peace without military conflict. It was a stunning song when the performed it live at their album launch in London. There is a real sense of irony in ‘A Monument To The Times/The Stepped Ford’ a song about Shirebook in Derbyshire. For years the site of a unionised colliery but now a Sports Direct warehouse employing people on zero hours contracts and below minimum wage. The songs explores whether these warehouses represent a troubling monument to our times. This moves wonderfully into ‘The Stepped Ford’, a song written by Sid on the English Acoustic Collective summer school last year.
Love reflected in nature is something of a holy grail in the folk tradition and ‘Via Extasia’ manages it so well. A beautiful song written by Liam Weldon and first recorded in 1976. it was learned from the the great Norfolk singer Harry Cox, who was recorded singing it in 1970. ‘The Poachers Fate’ (Roud 793) like many traditional songs on the subject deals with the age old battle against land and power lying in the hands of the rich.
Written by Jimmy for a event celebrating the history of Rotherhithe ‘The Tide’ reflects on the relentless drifting and rising tide of the River Thames (and people) coming in and out of London each day. The album closes wonderfully on a song based on a Joseph Campbell poem ‘The Seasons’. It is recorded over birdsong recorded at dawn in Wacton in Norfolk. Additional lyrics are by Peta Webb, Ken Hall and Jeff Wesley.
‘Many A Thousand’ is a stunning album of both traditional and contemporary folk music from two of it’s finest fast rising UK stars. Thought provoking, timely and highly crafted.
A Problem Of Our Kind is the fifth studio album from award-winning folk/roots duo Gilmore & Roberts their first release since 2016's live album In Our History, which celebrated a decade of performing together. 'Most of songs on the album deal with different aspects of being human some negative, like selfishness or materialism, and some more positive, like our sentimental side or philanthropy" explains Jamie Roberts (vocals, guitar). "Us humans are pretty complex" continues Katriona Gilmore (vocals, fiddle, mandolin). "Somehow it made us want to present these songs in quite a simple way."
Recorded at the duo's home in South Yorkshire by co-producer Ben Savage (well-known on the UK roots scene for his own acclaimed musical output with The Willows and Hannah Sanders), A Problem Of Our Kind contains some of the most stripped-back arrangements of Gilmore & Roberts' career, alongside full-tilt band numbers featuring their festival rhythm section of Fred Claridge (drums) and Matt Downer (double bass). From the heavy yet sparse groove of gutsy opening track 'Gauntlet' to the quietly insistent country-tinged heartbeat of 'Things You Left Behind' and the contemplative ebb and flow of 'On The Line', Gilmore & Roberts delve deep into the human psyche with their songs, holding their findings good and bad, dark and beautiful - up to the light. "People and their stories have always been our main inspiration for writing songs" says Katriona with a smile. "Thankfully there are enough amazing humans to keep us going for a long time yet!"
Pre-order your copy below
Botany Bay is the third studio album by Hertfordshire based singer-songwriter Kelly Oliver. It's a full, traditional English folk album, with all the songs collected from Kelly's home county of Hertfordshire. With production from Stu Hanna and all the songs arranged by Hanna & Oliver, this album is a new, contemporary take on the English folk tradition. The album also features
Phil Beer (fiddle), Toby Shaer (flutes, whistles, harmonium), Jamie Francis (banjo), Lukas Drinkwater (double bass), Evan Carson (bodhran, percussion) and Stu Hanna (mandola, piano).
The exciting third album for the multi-award winning Fred's House featuring 11 tracks, presented in a scrapbook style packaging with lyric booklet.
John's wonderful new album is the first of new original material in almost 13 years. A album to be loved and savored.
"Time and tide wait for no man," so the saying goes. But ever since her EP, Tide & Time, came out in 2016, many have been waiting expectantly to hear Somerset singer-songwriter Kitty Macfarlane's debut album. On September 21 the wait will be over as this fine young acoustic artist unveils the beguiling release 'Namer Of Clouds.' Produced by fellow musicians Sam Kelly and Jacob Stoney and released on Navigator Records, this is a captivating album.
Her sharply observed narrative songs are pure poetry, rich with visual imagery and written with an eco-eye woven loosely together into a theme of mankind's relationship with the wild. Gathering inspiration from the sky to the seabed, Kitty's lyrics touch on intervention and rewilding, climate change and migration and one singular song which is a magical aural tapestry of woman's historical relationship with textiles and the land. The album is augmented by all kinds of 'found sound' recorded in locations from Somerset to Sardinia birdsong, waterfalls, the click of knitting needles- and is bookended by sounds of the wild.
Recorded partly at The Cube near Truro in Cornwall and partly at Get Real Audio in Bath, 'Namer Of Clouds' features not just the clear, confident voice and finger-picked guitar of Macfarlane but also the in-demand Radio 2 Folk Awards 'Horizon' award winner Sam Kelly on guitar, mandolin and harmony vocals, with some of his talented Lost Boys band members also on the roll call Graham Coe on cello, Archie Churchill-Moss on melodeon and Jamie Francis, surprisingly not on his trademark banjo, but on electric guitar.
Kitty was a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Folk Award. More recently she has supported Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman on tour, as well as Blair Dunlop.
Now the Bristol-based performer is coming into her own with some remarkably mature songwriting, a marked empathy with the environment and a strong sense of place. Cerebral and classy, honest and immediate, these are not throwaway lyrics or everyday melodies but thought-provoking and evocative compositions with wonderfully crafted soundscapes.
'For Everything A Season is a collection of four seasonal EPs, that stand as a metaphor for the cycles we move through in life. A release of quality and depth from the Anglo-Dutch singer and songwriter, this is her second release following her well received debut 'Feathers' in 2016. Best described as high-quality alt-folk, with lyrical and musical complexity, de Ridder has a gift for a memorable hook, and a pop sensibility infuses the work. A deluxe box set containing 4 CDs in wallet with fold out page lyric booklet/mini poster.
LCM ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Artist: The Mulligan Brothers
Release Date: 1st June, 2018
Genre: Americana, Alt Country, Folk-Rock, Southern Rock
Record Label: Southern Routes Records
Tracks: 11
Website: https://www.themulliganbrothers.com/
Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
Some bands spend their whole careers trying to find their signature sound or create material that define them as a band. The Alabama based Mulligan Brothers have done just that on their third full-length album in five years, the fantastic self produced, ‘Songs For The Living and Otherwise‘. Following on from their excellent self-titled debut and sophomore record, ‘Via Portland‘, The Mulligan Brothers have built on the formula that has worked so well for them in the past and then supercharged it. If like me you love The Eagles, CSNY, Van Morrison, The Lumineers and Colter Wall, this album could be right up your street.
Since ‘Via Portland’ the group has parted ways with one of their original members, Gram Rea. They have very wisely added the first ‘Mulligan Sister’, Melody Duncan on fiddle, who also contributes some lead and backing vocals and brilliant vocal harmonies. The result is an excellent highly crafted and rich collection of great music.
The album opener the wonderful ‘The Deal’ is a perfect start, acoustic guitar led with the soothing tone and reflective lyrics of lead vocalist and songwriter Ross Newell. The song builds slowly adding pedal steel, gentle tambourine and percussion then heads for the upbeat bridge with it’s sing-a-long section. ‘Roseanne’ follows immediately with Ross becoming a little more soulful and the band joining in on harmony vocals. Blues harmonica accents complement the overall feel of the song. One of my favourite songs on the album is the Deep South bluesy ‘Possession in Gm’. It’s a great character based song which also sees Melody Duncan take her first lead vocal, dueting with Ross as the verses go back and forth. Throughout the album there are countless moments of real high quality and excellence. The chilled and catchy ‘Ghost Town’ is a classic ‘Mulligan Brothers’ song. Watch out for the super guitar solo.
The centrepiece and one of the album’s highlights is ‘Great Grandaddy’s War’, which is arguably the group’s best and most personal. A beautifully written introspective ballad with beautiful string arrangements and rich harmonies, which all contribute to something quite special. ‘I Know That Man’ a fast country narrative song featuring an extended fiddle solo, foot stomps and a gravelly vocal delivery. ‘Loving You Is Easy’ is another real earworm which will be stuck in your head for days. It reminded me of a cross between The Eagles and CSNY.
‘Divine Design’ is a harmony-filled, mid-paced track and would serve as a great introduction to the band. The pace slows for the personal and reflective ‘Not That Way’ a tale of lost love and regret. Blues harmonica once again setting the mournful tone. The beautifully written piano led ‘The Basement’ sees Melody take the lead vocals. It reminded me a little of Missy Higgins at her most reflective. ‘I Need To Get Out’ is the album’s closing song and it experiments with an electronic drum sound and other instrumental effects. It is quite simply a super culmination to a brilliant album.
‘Songs For The Living and Otherwise‘ is a precious gem and one to really savor and enjoy. From start to finish it is a real joy to listen to and hopefully one which will cement the band’s rising status as one of the biggest names in Americana, Alt Country and Folk-Rock.
Please let us know what you think?
Artist: Alden, Patterson & Dashwood
Release Date: 11th June, 2018
Genre: Folk. Americana
Record Label:
Tracks: 10
Website:
Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
Christina Alden (vocals/guitar), Alex Patterson (fiddle/vocals/occasional mandolin) and Noel Dashwood (dobro/vocals) are a fast rising folk and Americana trio from Norwich. Their second album 'By The Night' was recorded in late 2017 and early 2018 at a house in St Cross, South Elmham with Alex producing. It follows their critically acclaimed debut 'Call Me Home' released in 2016.
For their excellent third album and the second release on their own label, the Brighton-based quartet of Chloë Overton, Phil Jones, Fred Gregory and James Shenton again meld together the Celtic, American and English folk influences.
Hatful of Rain are a British contemporary folk group that combine powerful songwriting with musical flare, inspired by English, Celtic and American Roots styles. They use a single microphone approach to performing. This creates an intimate and engaging atmosphere characteristic of every Hatful show. They have released two albums 'Way Up On the Hill' in 2012 and 'The Morning Key' in 2014. EP 'Climb the Air' was released last year on their own 'Long Way Home Music label' and their third album Songs of the Lost and Found is due out on 13th July.
Topspin, the new album from Cardboard Fox, leads the band in a subtly different direction. Drawing on a rich variety of influences, including jazz, folk and pop, but always rooted in bluegrass, the album uses a wide sonic palate with many layers of instrumentation and harmony. In addition to the core instruments of fiddle, mandolin, guitar and double bass, the band adds a selection of other instruments, with trumpet, banjo, lap steel, electric guitar and octave violin played by members of the band, and percussion provided by engineer and producer Josh Clark (Kate Rusby, Damien O'Kane, Ron Block, Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys).
Lead vocals are evenly split between twin sisters Charlotte and Laura Carrivick, with backing vocals from the other two band members, Joe Tozer and John Breese. Of the eleven tracks on the album, there are eight original songs, two covers and one original instrumental. The covers reflect the wide spectrum of the band's influences, ranging from legendary American roots songwriter, Gillian Welch's ‘Tear My Stillhouse Down’ to Owl City's synth-pop hit, ‘Fireflies’.
Topspin is the band's third release, preceded by their self-titled EP which won the 2015 Spiral Earth award for Best Debut, which was then followed by the band's first full length album, Out of Mind, in 2016 ("crisp and light, the arrangements delightfully layered" Country Music People). In the five years since their formation, Cardboard Fox have established themselves as a unique force on the UK roots scene and have successfully toured internationally, having performed across mainland Europe as well as Canada and the USA, building a reputation for explosive live performances.