For their fourth album, Band of Horses have the experience and confidence to create something bold and reach new listeners. Solid, assured and tightly crafted, many of these songs have shaken off much of their old sparseness. This works, and…
Category: Records
Album | Anja McCloskey – An Estimation
Half German, half American, living in Southampton, Anja McCloskey is a musician without borders. Wherever you put her music, it always sounds like it comes from somewhere else. Maybe somewhere European, perhaps a bit Russian or French Canada or some…
Album | Alexander Wolfe – Skeletons
There is a moment just over a minute into Separated By A Smile, the closing track from Alexander Wolfe’s second album, when a lone trumpet is introduced – subtly at first, gradually coming to the fore as the song progresses…
EP | Frightened Rabbit – State Hospital
Once news broke of Frightened Rabbit’s move from FatCat to Atlantic, some fans were understandably concerned about whether the Selkirk quintet would lose some of the qualities that endeared them to their loyal following in the first place. It’ll no…
Album | Mumford & Sons – Babel
It’s difficult to write a review aware that it will serve no purpose. After the phenomenal success of their debut album Sigh No More, Mumford & Sons now find themselves with a legion of devoted fans. Folk fans, pop fans.…
EP | Abagail Grey – Dark Wood
Claire Campbell chose the stage name Abagail Grey after meeting the character in what is described as an “eerily vivid dream”. And for that, she could hardly have a better name, because listening to her music seems like a slightly…
Album | Rachel Sermanni – Under Mountains
Glasgow-based Rachel Sermanni has been plugging away for a few years now, releasing various singles and EPs, but now the time has come for her to release a full-length effort with help from various piano and fiddle players that she’s…
Album | Alberta Cross – Songs of Patience
Alberta Cross have certainly racked up a lot of attention since their acclaimed debut album, Broken Side of Time. Tour commitments with Oasis and Them Crooked Vultures, plus coveted airtime on Radio 1 mean that their latest release, Songs of…
Album | Malcolm Holcombe – Down The River
Malcolm Holcombe has never previously sounded like a man in much of a hurry. A 57-year-old of remarkable sideburns, the North Carolina bluesman was in his 40s when he finally got around to releasing his debut album, and the follow-ups…
Album | The Fresh & Onlys – Long Slow Dance
The Fresh & Onlys look, according to their press release, “exactly like a biker gang composed of record store employees who could stomp your ass while shouting Kobaïan (that language ‘70s French prog band Magma made up) at you, if…