This FFS writer first stumbled across The Shins at a house party in 2004, the crest of the discovering-indie-through-the-soundtrack-to-The-OC wave. We were professing our love for Death Cab for Cutie to a camp but handsome American chap who reacted with…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Album | The Decemberists – We All Raise Our Voices To The Air
It’s an odd thing, the live album. If you like a band enough to buy one you’ve probably heard most of the songs before, maybe you even own them, and with better recording quality at that. It’s usually hard for…
Album | Soap&Skin – Narrow
It’s hard to believe that Anja Plaschg, aka Soap&Skin, is only 21. With second full-length album, Narrow, the Viennese Plaschg tackles such weighty issues as loss and grief in a classical-goth style that takes a certain level of courageousness. Nor…
Album | Tess – Magpie
Kent singer-songwriter Tess has managed to create an album which is both instantly likeable and a bit of a grower. Magpie is distinguised by well-crafted, honest songwriting while the vocal delivery is perfectly understated. Opener ‘Big Room’ has dark lyrics…
Singles Round-up | Liz Green, Ajimal, Sweet Lights, Tom Williams & The Boat, Maia, Athena
Liz Green – Bad Medicine ‘Bad Medicine’ is taken from Liz Green’s debut album O, Devotion! and it is quite frankly brilliant. It’s also pretty difficult to describe, the closest I can get being that it is a bit like…
Album: We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships
All the brawn of We Are Augustines’ instrumentation could easily mask the emotional clout that Rise Ye Sunken Ships contains. The opening gambit of a four-to-the-floor drum beat and the ensuing anthemic guitar chord progression in ‘Chapel Song’ immediately defines…
Album | Straylings – Entertainment on Foreign Grounds
The Straylings’s debut effort comes in the form of the compelling Entertainment on Foreign Grounds and it certainly leaves a lasting impression on the listener. Gaining praise from such people as Steve Lamacq, the band are definitely under a lot…
Album | Bowerbirds – The Clearing
On their charming new album The Clearing, the Bowerbirds stick to the formula that gained them acclaim on their previous records, Upper Air and Hymns for a Dark Horse. On first listen it appears to be a tribute to their…
Album | Farrar, Johnson, Parker & Yames – New Multitudes
Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, and Yim Yames have produced a fitting album to include in this year’s centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie’s birth with their interpretation of unpublished Guthrie lyrics on New Multitudes . This volume focuses on…
Album | Sophia Knapp – Into The Waves
Into The Waves is Sophia Knapp’s first solo record away from her ‘day job’ in Brooklyn-based rockers Cliffie Swan/Lights. Describing music as ‘pleasant’ and ‘nice’ can often be a curse word and code for saying it’s extremely boring. Not in…