by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | The Unthanks – In Winter
If we were drawing up a list of the artists we’d most like to hear make a seasonal record, the Unthanks would be somewhere near the top. Their rich instrumentation, careful arrangements, and beautiful harmonies are just the warming sound…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Laura Marling – Patterns In Repeat
The intimate nature of Laura Marling’s eighth studio album is apparent before she has even played a note. We hear shuffling, voices, a yelp from Marling’s infant daughter, as they get themselves arranged in the home studio where Patterns In…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | The Miserable Rich – Overcome
Tough times can overcome you, and they can be overcome. Every story is different, but the chances of finding a way through are much stronger with the love and support of family and friends. And that was the backdrop for…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Laura Veirs – Phone Orphans
Laura Veirs’ music has been intensely personal in recent times. 2020’s My Echo? was the sound of her marriage breaking up, while 2022’s Found Light was a reflection, a record about what comes next. But now Veirs, as she reaches…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Interview | The Miserable Rich return with the deeply personal ‘Glue’
“They said I should stick to you like glue, after what the two of us went through” The Miserable Rich’s new release, ‘Glue’, is a song unlike anything James de Malplaquet had ever written before. Deeply personal, emotionally raw, it…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Caitlin Rose – Cazimi
When Caitlin Rose burst on to the scene in 2010 with her delightful debut album Own Side Now, followed up soon after with The Stand-In, her star instantly shone bright. Rave reviews heralded the arrival of a powerful new voice,…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Arny Margret – They Only Talk About The Weather
Ísafjörður must be a strange place to grow up. Almost six hours north of Reykjavik on the Westfjord peninsula of Iceland, it is a remote and dramatic landscape, one where tall mountains can block out the sun for several months…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | The Unthanks – Sorrows Away
I’ve got an unsent greeting card sat on the side which reads “I heard you’ve been watching a lot of news lately so here’s a card with a comforting duck on it”. I’ve not sent it to anyone yet because…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Alela Diane – Looking Glass
Alela Diane’s sixth studio album was born in a storm – more than one, in fact. There was the thunderstorm in Mexico, which knocked out the power as Diane wrote the opening track ‘Paloma’. “In the black of night/I wouldn’t…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Bonny Light Horseman – Rolling Golden Holy
When Bonny Light Horseman – the band formed by songwriter Anais Mitchell, producer Josh Kaufman and the original Fruit Bat Eric D. Johnson – delivered their self-titled debut album in 2020 it was easy to imagine it was a one-off.…