What do you get if you take the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Byrds, Phil Spector, New Order and stick them all into a cocktail shaker? Then serve the contents to five guys from Belfast? The result is Cashier No.9,…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Album: Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Justin Vernon returns with a more integral cast of collaborators for his second album as Bon Iver. The name is drawn from the French for “good winter” (bon hiver) and the often sparse instrumentation coupled with Vernon’s alternately hushed and…
Album: Nik Freitas – Saturday Night Underwater
Richey Edwards used to style his hair as Ian McCulloch, John Lennon was initally obsessed with having an Elvis quiff and Ian Curtis tried to dress like David Bowie. Great musicians all have to start somewhere and their beginning is…
Album: Babette Hayward – You Might Be Somebody
It’s been three short years since Laura Marling released her brilliant debut Alas I Cannot Swim. In that time, Marling, along with her contemporaries, has helped to forge the folk revival. This has seen, amongst others, Marling, Fleet Foxes and…
Singles: Marcus Foster, Kyla La Grange, O’Death & Grass House
Marcus Foster – Rushes & Reeds Marcus Foster, possibly best known for having Robert Pattinson sing one of his compositions on the Twilight soundtrack curiously reminded me of a band slightly North of his London roots; Oxford’s Charly Coombes and…
Album: Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
Before we start I should make my feelings clear: winsome West Coast garage–punker Ty Segall makes me sick. Years of amateurish and painstaking hours strapped to the acoustic guitar have seen me boldly exploring the lyrical and sonic hinterland between…
Album: Sparrow & The Workshop – Spitting Daggers
Sparrow & the Workshop might be expected, from their name, to be cute and feathery. In fact they’re raucous, all thumping beats, handclaps and caterwauling vocals, like a countrified take on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; in ‘You Don’t Trust Anyone’,…
Album: Emmy The Great – Virtue
Emma-Lee Moss, the girl who puts the great into Emmy, is back to with a second album that is sure to build on the devoted fan-base she won with 2009’s memorable First Love. Her breakthrough back then was considerable. Not…
Album: City & Colour – Little Hell
City and Colour, the alliterative moniker of Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, has already earned the Alexisonfire singer two Junos and quite a bit of acclaim. Although this folk project is a far cry from his post-hardcore roots, Green wears the…
In Pictures: Communion’s Bushstock Festival
FFS’s photoreporter Sapphire Mason-Brown headed to Bushstock at the weekend and caught performances from Peggy Sue, Daughter, Michael Kiwanuka, Marques Toliver and more…