The dream-pop stylings of Widowspeak are hardly unique but their particular approach – with a focus on well-crafted songs and heartfelt delivery – seems more honest than the long list of bands who create a wall of sound to hide…
As soon as Loved Wild Lost, the second full-length record from Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, fires up, it sounds reassuringly familiar. As Bluhm bounces across the chorus of opener ‘Only Always’, singing “You’re as bright as a stone, shining…
A year on from his debut album, Luke Sital-Singh has returned to his favoured EP format, handily providing a great stopgap before his next full-length work. For anyone not already familiar, this four-track collection serves as a good introduction to…
Desolate Stars sounds like it was recorded in your living room, with the musicians sat around your sofa. It’s personal, tender, easy to like – a rather beautiful little record. The sparse yet intricate instrumentation makes it feel like they…
Look no further, Julia Holter is in pole position for artist of the decade. Early promise has not only been realised but even surpassed on this her fourth album. Following on from 2013’s Loud City Song, this is her second…
It’s hard to mention Hansard without talking about his greatest moment to date - the film Once. It was a stunning film, a modern cult classic, and a perfect platform for Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s to display their musical and…
Gone are the loud guitars and feedback squalls of Hawley’s last album Standing At The Sky’s Edge and back is Hawley’s classic sound. His voice is ageing, beautifully – smoking may be taking its toll but somehow the damage done…
When I first heard The Lake Poets, otherwise known as the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Martin Longstaff, he was playing his guitar onstage at one of Newcastle’s best venues (in my humble opinion), the Cluny. The demo of ‘Windowsill’, which…
Having toured for much of the summer in support of their album Bonxie, released in April, Stornoway provide a matching bookend to close their travelling schedule by releasing a six-track acoustic companion piece shorn of the denser instrumentation and frequent…
Hitting middle age was always going to be a test for The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn. Some 11 years after the barroom rock version of the E Street Band emerged from the wreckage of Lifter Puller, the now 44-year-old’s…