Category: Reviews

Album | Marissa Nadler – New Radiations

While Marissa Nadler currently lives in Nashville, in many respects the music of New Radiations may feel more comfortable on the English moors or in the early New England countryside. Between the often gauzy, layered vocals and her sometimes shocking…

Album | Hayes Carll – We’re Only Human

Rather than entering psycho-analysis Hayes Carll made an album. We’re Only Human spends a lot of time looking at life, trying to find answers. Along the way he came up with 10 songs that speak to the human condition and…

Album | Minor Gold – Way To The Sun

Across centuries and civilisations, the sun has been a symbol of hope, and it is definitely the star of the show in Way to the Sun, the sophomore album by powerhouse duo Minor Gold, comprised of Dan Parsons and Tracy…

Album | Patty Griffin – Crown of Roses

Patty Griffin always seems to find a way to carry on. She’s faced her share of hardship, having recovered from breast cancer and then lost her voice due to radiation treatment. As the youngest of seven children, she had a…

Album | Soft Hearted Scientists – The Phantom of Canton

Explaining the music of Soft Hearted Scientists one struggles to find the proper words. It’s much like trying to make sense of the pathways that lead from George Washington to Donald Trump. The task is to come to terms with…

Album | The Swell Season – Forward

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of The Swell Season. It’s been sixteen years since Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová released their second album. Unbelievably, an entire generation may never have heard of the band, their film Once or…

Album | Allo Darlin’ – Bright Nights

When Allo Darlin’ announced in 2023 they were going to play their first gigs in seven years, having bid what we thought was an emotional farewell at London’s Scala back in 2016, tickets sold out in minutes. The appetite to…

Album | Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars – Dreams

Imagine an 84-year-old Canadian woman creating an album with a band of London’s cosmic cowboys. If you made this up no one would believe you. Proving that truth is actually stranger than fiction, the Canadian in question, Bonnie Dobson, joined…

Album | Ruth Lyon – Poems and Non-Fiction

Known to an adoring army of fans as the powerhouse frontwoman of Holy Moly and the Crackers, Ruth Lyon’s solo project has been simmering away in the background for a while and now gets to take centre stage. It is…

Album | BC Camplight – A Sober Conversation

After his multi-coloured ‘Manchester’ album trilogy – full of mishaps, misturns and superbly skewed songwriting – came BC Camplight’s break-up record, 2023’s The Last Rotation of Earth.  The title and black-and-white photographic cover of its follow-up suggests seriousness, Brian Christinzio staring at…