Music and misery have long gone hand in hand. In his novel High Fidelity, Nick Hornby pairs the two in a chicken/egg ‘which came first?’ scenario. Certainly, we are moulded by the music we listen to as we grow up.…
Good things can come from bad news. Elle Mary was a mainstay of the Manchester folk scene, launching and running The Folk Cellar and playing her own acoustic material. But following a break-up, she ditched the acoustic guitar for an…
When people mention “jazz” to today’s listeners, they will probably think about alternative monoliths like Kamasi Washington, or Colin Stetson. People who were young in the 90s will go as far as recalling the Detroit scene, Tortoise, Sea and Cake,…
It all began on their eighth birthday, when twin sisters Lauren and Leanna Price were gifted a mandolin and a fiddle. Encouraged by the music of O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, their intrigue in the traditional bluegrass movement—a genre in itself…
Fans of Frontier Ruckus will certainly be stricken when they recognize the face of Anna Burch on the cover of her solo debut album. Anna Burch has been a touring member of the band from early on, but just recently…
Brett Randell’s Rise EP begins with a soulful, sensuous inflection on one of his most celebrated singles, ‘The Waitress’. Calling to mind a hip folksiness akin to some of Jason Mraz’s early work, the 28-year-old New Yorker commands the stage in…
Andrew Reed’s newest album comes from a personal place, but thematically, it doesn’t at all touch on themes that would be foreign to anybody. It’s simply about life’s journey. Having experienced such tough, rough patches in his time on earth…
A very few records exist that one can describe as “magical” – a very dangerous, double-edged attribute when it comes to music and art, as it can entail the deepest probing of the unconscious as well as the most kitsch,…
With his debut solo album, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Dave Allen establishes himself as a bona fide roots music auteur, transporting us to a place that to our modern perceptions will seem uncomfortably foreign, or conversely, all too real. Listeners previously heard…
‘Sleep Tight’ is not, as the title might suggest, a lullaby. But the latest taste of The Heart Of’s upcoming debut EP is a beautifully tender reflection on those thoughts that you can’t always escape when the lights go out.…