Metal and rock are, of course, both well-established as musical genres. Wood is less so, but the Unthanks’ Adrian McNally is out to change that. As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, a boat constructed from wood donated by…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Festivals | Thursday at the Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is not renowned for its sexiness. Beards? Yes. Beer bellies? Check. Family fun, funny hats and frolics in the mud. But sexiness? Not so much. So imagine my surprise when I arrived on Thursday afternoon to…
Album | The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band – Diversions vol. 2
The band is incredibly versatile, from march music offset with sparse, mournful arrangements on the beautiful ‘Trimdon Grange Explosion’, to near classical arrangements on the Prokofiev-reminiscent ‘My Lagan Love’ and the James Bond pyrotechnics in the new rendition of ‘Queen of Hearts’. In its tones and timbre, every track is as reassuringly traditional as logs on a fireplace, but they crackle with a new wit in combinations that, without contradiction, show British folk – and brass band music – at its most innovative.
Album | Meursault – Something for the Weakened
It’s been clear from the outset that Meursault are a band that push outwards at all times. Their oft-changing line-up, unpredictable live shows and, most obviously, famously mercurial sound – which has seen them flicker constantly between the extreme end…
Exclusive | Stream Luke Ritchie’s new album The Water’s Edge
Luke Ritchie’s debut album The Water’s Edge has no ordinary back story. Back in 2010, the songwriter challenged himself to write one song a week for six months, post the results online, and see what happened. After getting a huge…
Album | Family Band – Grace & Lies
In their sophomore record, Grace & Lies, Family Band juxtapose two fundamentally opposing and paradoxical concepts, and intertwine them to form a being that thrums with life’s most profound questions. The album begins with the unsettlingly with ‘Night Song’, centred…
Singles Round-up | Dog Is Dead, Alberta Cross, Alexander Wolfe, Tashaki Miyaki, James Canty & Church School
Dog is Dead – Glockenspiel Song When I was first this track I did a double take; wasn’t this quirky, upbeat pop number from Nottingham was released two years ago? It turns out I was right – after releasing ‘Glockenspiel…
Interview | Plans and pork pies with Alberta Cross
Alberta Cross are a band who have certainly earned their place on the main stages. Touring extensively with artists such as Oasis, Them Crooked Vultures and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Petter Ericson Stakee and Terry Wolfers are about to follow…
EP | WAGWAK – The Way To Drive Into The Arabian Sunset
Made up of singer-guitarist Daehyun Kim and madcap multi-instrumentalist Sangyoung Cho, WAGWAK’s curious moniker is an acronym of We Aren’t Gay, We Are Korean, after they were repeatedly mistaken for a couple. Self-professed disciples of FFS favourites Slow Club, Mumford…
Album | Vanessa Peters – The Burn, The Truth, The Lies
It is hard to believe that Vanessa Peters is on album number seven, and after the much-acclaimed Christmas album released last year, many have been waiting on tenterhooks to see what Peters has got up her sleeve next. Well, rest-assured,…