Fragments is a fitting title for this debut EP from Manchester-based Glass Ankle. A mixed and contemplative bag, it doesn’t always hit the mark, but it’s definitely got an assortment of shiny treats to entice you. A blending of some…
Hurray for the Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes Alynda Lee Segarra’s affinity for the old-time sounds of New Orleans is well-established four albums in to the life of her occasionally ramshackle ensemble Hurray for the Riff Raff, and so…
This past winter, I sat down and read a biography on Bon Iver, entitled Bon Iver-Good Winter, written by Mark Beaumont. Whilst it was all very interesting learning about how Justin Vernon went from studying religion at university to creating…
Descending from a long line of coal miners, when Stone Jack Jones came down the mountains of West Virginia he found himself a constant misfit – he was rejected for military service in Vietnam, and instead pursued careers ranging from…
Brighton four-piece House of Hats draw in the folky flavours of the likes of early Fleetwood Mac and Wishbone Ash, melding a chorus of vocal harmonies and picked acoustic guitars in their debut album, This Love. While the songs are…
Deaf Heat opens with the unflinchingly peculiar ‘Tongues’: darkly modulating harmonies bend two minutes into a bottomless eternity of human voices, cutting through hearts like ice. Lead track ‘Deep Green’ thunders in after the ethereal strangeness of ‘Tongues’, imagining the body as…
Listening to Broken Records Toska, the Edinburgh based bands first release in four years, it strikes me that there are two defined (though not necessarily mutually exclusive) routes available when putting together an EP. The first option is to release…
Former Low Anthem front-woman and ex-NASA researcher Jocie Adams has returned in typically unorthodox style with her first record in her shiny new group Arc Iris. While hearing Adams’ voice out front might take a little getting used to, little…
In Hard Rain Barb Jungr pays homage to some of the most violently political songs of a pair of legendary storytellers and songwriters. Mingling the angry, searingly clear-sighted songs of Bob Dylan with the indignant, rage-imbued writing of Leonard Cohen, Jungr brings…
The nights are getting longer, the sun is finally starting to appear after hiding behind a perpetual raincloud throughout the bleak winter months, and Spring is upon us, as is the latest record by The War on Drugs; a musical…