The Mountain Goats are responsible for my all-time favourite record. The Sunset Tree is frontman John Darnielle’s angry and beautiful ode to his troubled adolescence. Since its release in 2005, Darnielle has released five brilliant LPs with themes from the Bible to mental illness.…
The Bill Fay story is astonishing. That he is here again making music, and such precious music to boot, is a gift to anyone willing to listen. He was a victim of the cruel axe of the music machine back…
Live albums can go ether way. Sometimes they seem like nothing more than a sonic souvenir of the band’s last tour for their existing fan base. But at their best, they make you stop listening to the studio albums. After…
Having had one of the ‘songs of the summer’ in 2012 with the ubiquitous ‘Hold On’, which seemed to be playing all over the radio, in every shop, and at every festival across the world, Alabama Shakes took some time…
Chicago’s Erik Hall took four years to make his second album, racking up thousands of miles travelling between his home studio and the Michigan farmhouse where he also recorded – giving the album its name, Driver. And as opener ‘Bawl,…
Given how Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore introduced themselves as Tennis with 2011’s Cape Dory, it was easy to wonder if it was a glorious fluke. The college sweethearts had married, bought a yacht and set sail down the Eastern…
As winter turns to spring, summer comes into view and we begin to shed the extra layers of clothing. Time then to find some music to listen to while dozing in the sunshine or taking a walk in the country.…
When a band like The Leisure Society releases their fourth album, there’s bound to be slight trepidation. After being lauded by critics for their first three releases and being counted among Brian Eno and Ray Davies favourite bands, there’s a lot of pressure…
After his debut Becoming A Jackal and the harder sounds of Awayland, Conor O’Brien’s latest offering is carefully intimate and stripped-down, recorded in his home studio. Opening song ‘Courage’ is characteristically stoical/masochistic: the knowledge that life is not always easy is framed as ‘sweet relief’.…
I hadn’t heard Benjamin Clementine before this album, but it’s pretty apparent that he’s a star, often compared to Nina Simone in his compelling delivery and stage presence. At Least For Now opens with ‘Winston Churchill’s Boy’: beginning just with…