We first came across Holly Taymar last year during the unenviable task of whittling down 125 Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition entries to three. Taymar grabbed our attention, and a place on that final shortlist, not by doing anything new or…
Category: Records
Album | The Pond – The Pond
I saw Kathryn Williams live in the summer of 2009 at Stockton-on-Tees’ wonderful free festival. The Futureheads had just finished an excellent main stage set, finishing in signature fashion by splitting the crowd down the middle to sing the harmonies…
EP | Matt Norris & The Moon – The Kingdom EP
Everything about Matt Norris & The Moon’s music makes sense to me: modern, Mumford-esque arrangements with Nizlopi vocals and tunes that sound rooty and traditional, like Wheeler Street. There are flutes, trumpets, acoustic guitars – if I listen hard enough…
Album | Sons of Noel and Adrian – Knots
Sons of Noel and Adrian is more than just a band. The group is filled with English folk’s undercover movers and shakers; whether through the Willkommen Collective, extensive touring, or the other bands in which its members take part, the…
Album | One Little Plane – Into the Trees
One Little Plane, a.k.a. Kathryn Bint, is often described as ‘gentle’, ‘soft’, and other words familiar to folk fans, but her second album shows that she can set herself apart. Into the Trees begins with ‘She Was Out In The…
Album | Emma Gatrill – Chapter 1
Musicians, like film stars and television broadcasters, are some of the most important cultural icons in history. Furthermore, instruments can carry as much, if not more, powerful symbolism than musicians themselves. Take the electric guitar, for example, and Jimi Hendrix…
Album | Anna Ternheim – The Night Visitor
In recent years Sweden has proved itself the prime producer of US-style cultural exports. In film and television, the likes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Wallander have caught the imagination of viewers in the UK, appearing at…
Album | Admiral Fallow – Tree Bursts In Snow
Admiral Fallow spent two and a half years crafting the songs that made up their debut album Boots Met My Face before committing them to the tape, part of a slow-burning process that saw the record released twice before it…
Album | Smoke Fairies – Blood Speaks
If there’s been one constant in the Smoke Fairies’ story to date, it has been their refusal to stand still. From leaving their Sussex roots to spend time living in America and Canada before returning to London, to their frantic…
Album | Patrick Watson – Adventures In Your Own Backyard
Falsetto voice, piano, experimentation… It’s all been done before, right? What with the Jeff Buckleys, the Rufus Wainwrights and the Bon Ivers, there really isn’t much room in the market for more. Anyone looking to venture down a similar path…