For a recently gathered collective, there is a satisfying and even surprising restraint and confidence about Grand Lake Islands and their first full-length release Song From Far. The Portland group are the brainchild of Erik Emanuelson, who quit his job…
You wonder if Laura Marling has ever stood still. From the moment she released her first EP at the somewhat impatient age of 17 everything she has done has been a progression, a departure, a new set of ideas. With…
Covers albums are notoriously difficult to pull off effectively. Mixing the necessary reverence to the artist whose tunes are being re-rendered with trying to tease out additional nuances is fiendishly challenging. For those that pull off the trick like David…
Brandi Carlile has a firebrand of a voice. It has shades of country, pop and blues in its powerful range, a little like a female version of Ryan Adams. Her music is cut from the same cloth, a commercial take…
Mr Knopfler needs little introduction. Dire Straits were one of the biggest and best bands of the 80s, while his solo career has been far more than just a vanity project. He is of course one of the most gifted,…
Little Neon Limelight is the exuberant, boisterous and utterly American second album by Houndmouth, from New lbany, Indiana. It swaggers along, with its repeated theme of restless travel from State to State, during which we meet along the way jailbirds,…
Matthew E. White’s 2013 debut Big Inner was a cracker – a sublime work that appeared from nowhere. It encapsulated both old and new – Motown soul and pop, a touch of country, and lullaby vocals combined to produce one…
Whether as the frontman of Super Furry Animals, through his synth concept albums with Neon Neon, recent film score work or genre-straddling collaborations with the likes of Gorillaz and Mogwai, Gruff Rhys has always displayed a pioneer spirit. Last year’s ‘American…
Steve Earle has covered much ground during an almost 30-year recording career and very little of it covered lightly, but this may be his first record that could genuinely be considered “fun”. That is not to say that any of…
Americana, or, to be more precise, the folk-roots of American music, has seen a resurgence over the past two or three years, and the Lone Bellow are the musical embodiment of everything that has made the genre fashionable. Big, sing-a-long…