Category: Reviews

Thus Owls – Turning Rocks

Husband and wife Simon and Erica Angell met whilst appearing on the same bill in separate bands on different European tours. A chance encounter, which led to Erica falling in love with Simons haunting guitar tone and then him, resulting…

Album | Broken Twin – May

Broken Twin has a luxurious, emotional voice that feels perfectly made for belting out love songs. Majke Voss Romme’s stage name might suggest hopelessness, but whatever darkness this album does have is not truly so bleak. As the spring title…

Album | Bird to Beast – Bird to Beast

Championed by BBC 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins, live appearances at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, and festival dates over the Summer; Manchester based musical duo Bird to Beast (Sam and Hannah Hird) have crafted a debut album which is infectiously catchy…

Album | Woods – With Light And With Love

Woods has consistently made good albums for a while now, with short gaps between each album. There’s no change to that formula here either. The shimmering and shuffling, at once delicate and acoustic and the next moment electric twanging and…

Live | Elbow & Jimi Goodwin @ Manchester Arena

For Folk's Sake | Elbow | Press Photo

There’s something inherently paradoxical about the ubiquity of Elbow’s mammoth hit ‘One day like this’ – a song about a single, brief moment of life-changing beauty that ended up being, well, everywhere.  In fact, I’ve often doubted whether a body…

Album | Smoke Fairies – Smoke Fairies

It may come as something of a surprise to learn that the Smoke Fairies, at some point in the all-too-recent past, were on the brink of calling it a day; pausing at a fork in the road and pondering which…

EP | Daughter – 4AD Session

After the success of last year’s If You Leave, and following a recent run of shows supporting indie darlings The National on their US tour, Daughter release a five track EP which sees them reworking select songs from their debut…

Album | Simone Felice – Strangers

When Simone Felice left the band of his siblings The Felice Brothers he made a brave decision. They had made a near classic in Yonder Is The Clock, some five years ago now. Much has changed for Simone since, not…

Live | Johnny Flynn @ The Cluny, Newcastle

For Folk's Sake | Johnny Flynn | 2014

Johnny Flynn certainly likes to keep himself busy. If he’s not treading the boards in a Shakespearean production in the West End, he’s sharing screen time with Hollywood A-listers in a cinema near you. But it’s his role as a…