by Pete Bate • • Comments Off on Album | Bon Iver – i,i
“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…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Single | CommonUnion59 – Borrowed Time
Lauren Malasig and Steve McKenzie are CommonUnion59. Hailing from San Francisco, the pianist and guitarist mesh their vocals to develop straight-shooting folk music. Redolent of the American folk movements of the 60s and 70s, their lyrical focus waxes philosophy on…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Premiere | Emma Frank – Before You Go Away (Living Room Songs version)
Emma Frank will return with her second album on next month. Expanding on her distinctive mix of folk, R&B and jazz, Come Back is the follow-up to 2018’s Ocean Av. As a teaser before it’s release, here we bring you…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Shannon Lay – August
In August of 2017 Shannon Lay’s life changed completely. She went from being a sometime musician to creating music full time when Kevin Morby asked her to open for him on an American tour. That life changing moment became the…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Carriers – Now Is The Time For Loving Me, Yourself, & Everyone Else
The gestation period for birds is 35 days, while elephants take almost two years! In the case of Carriers, Curt Kiser’s Cincinnati-based band, the gestation period took five years. Yet along the way the band has become very well known,…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Premiere | Broken Forest – Deeper Than You (Live at The Old Church)
When Broken Forest were invited to play The Old Church in Stoke Newington earlier this year, Luise London and her band took the opportunity to reimagine their songs to fit the setting. Stripped back, the songs lost their distinctive elements…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Seeker Lover Keeper – Wild Seeds
“Let’s start a band.” With those words Seeker Lover Keeper was formed at a bar in Newtown, Australia nine years ago. Wild Seeds, their second album, finds Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann, and Holly Throsby reuniting for the first time in…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Album | Lillimure – Self-titled
On Lillimure’s self-titled debut LP, up-tempo jazz-hop splits meet conscious lyricism and sheer vocal finesse. It’s a fine blend of influences spanning a multitude of subgenres, culminating into the dense filling that fulfills a folk-pop shell. Shifting into a palpable…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Video premiere | Natalie Evans – In Trees (Small Pond Session)
Natalie Evans’ rather fine 2013 EP Houses will get its first ever vinyl release later this month, with added loveliness in the form of a flip side made up of stripped-back live recordings. Want to hear more? Good, you’re in…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Album | Sharon Goldman – Every Trip Around the Sun
Varied in its themes as it is delivered like a warm embrace, Sharon Goldman’s songwriting is unvarnished folk-pop. Every Trip Around the Sun prides itself on humanity, and it seems to be that it does so with a “nothing more,…