‘Let England Shake’, commands the title track of this, Polly Harvey’s latest studio album. And after just one listen, I can confirm that this small corner of the West Country is very shaky indeed. The excitement isn’t just a hangover…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Album: Sea of Bees — Songs for the Ravens
There’s something of the Scandinavian about Julie Baenziger and her one-woman band, Sea of Bees, which may come as a surprise to this Californian native but I can assure her that it’s a compliment. Perhaps it’s the ethereal quality to…
Album: Anna Calvi — Anna Calvi
The opening track of Anna Calvi’s eponymous debut, ‘Rider to the Sea’, is gloriously filmic, a Western in two-and-a-half minutes, complete with rattlesnakes, rumbling drums and gongs. Calvi’s vocals enter only as a crescendo at the end; it’s like meeting…
Live: Roddy Woomble @ Black Box, Belfast – 30/01/2011
Roddy Woomble needs no introduction or support on a bright but chilly Belfast afternoon. We’re full of Sunday lunch and optimistic anticipation of a great show as the occasional Idlewild front man graces the stage with Seonaid Aitken on fiddle…
Live: Teddy Thompson @ Black Box, Belfast – 25/01/11
The Black Box is a dedicated arts venue in the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and tonight it’s packed for one the most keenly anticipated shows of the Out to Lunch Festival. Even though it’s a school night the beers…
Anaïs Mitchell to hold Hadestown Q&A
Schmercury nominee and For Folk’s Sake favourite Anaïs Mitchell is bringing her beloved folk Opera Hadestown to London and Glasgow this January. Both shows have been selling super fast and the Union Chapel date is currently sold out. Good news…
Johnny Flynn to star in new London play
Johnny Flynn is a man of many talents, a travelling player. Not only is he the singer songwriter of folk music that makes our hearts full and glad but he is also an actor and has previously toured with the…
Interview: Ruarri Joseph
After the release of two indie-folk albums, Tales of Grim and Grit through Atlantic Records and Both Sides of the Coin through his own independent record label Pip Productions, Cornish singer-songwriter Ruarri Joseph disappeared from the music circuit. Before heading…
Singles: Laura Marling & Johnny Flynn, The Vaccines, Sea of Bees
The Vaccines – Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) ‘Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ by The Vaccines is one minute and twenty- four seconds of infectious guitar music, with touches of retro, surf, the 70s, lo- fi and something new. Justin…
Live: Dirty Projectors @ Koko, 07/12/2010
Listening to the Dirty Projectors is a bit like being inside an oddly syncopated clockwork toy; so much so that as I refresh my memory of this gig, my sister asks why I have two songs playing at once (it’s…