If, like me, you crave mince pies as soon as summer finishes, the gift of a Christmas album at the start of November is balm to the autumn soul. The fact it’s as perky and filler-free as Josh Rouse’s holiday debut is…
“I like you, I like you,” intones Justin Vernon on ‘iMI’, the opening salvo of his group’s fourth album. In the three years since the shadowy 22, A Million, Bon Iver’s convener has achieved a hard-earned contentment – even if…
“It sure feels good to be singing again,” Bill Callahan’s earthy baritone grins on ‘Writing’, one of the countless gems on his first studio album since 2013’s Dream River. In the intervening period, the 53-year-old has been preoccupied with marriage, fatherhood…
Ten years since Nick Hemming, Christian Hardy and co arrived with their award-nominated debut album The Sleeper, their fifth offering represents a rebuilding of sorts. The ending of songwriter Hemming’s relationship with Leisure Society flautist Helen Whitaker, and the folding…
It must be a big deal for songwriters – often solitary by nature – to land on a partner, or muse, who can push them to new peaks. Damien Jurado’s collaboration with Richard Swift began to bear fruit over a…
Kurt Wagner and his ever-shifting Nashville collective left alt.country purists on the hard shoulder years ago. Always influenced by Curtis Mayfield and other soul legends, Wagner and co have morphed into a brand new proposition in recent times – heralded…
It’s hard to believe baby-faced William Tyler is pushing 40 and has been forging his solo guitar path for over a decade. After earning his left-field Americana stripes with the likes of Lambchop, The Silver Jews and Will Oldham, he…
If Low’s last album, 2015’s acclaimed Ones and Sixes, saw them slip off their slowcore shackles, Double Negative feels like a near-detonation of all that’s gone before. As the band moved into their third decade, a sense of consolidation surrounded…