Lucinda Williams is at her best angry, scorned and burning with a fiery passion. But while we were happy for her and everything, her marriage to Tom Overby made 2008 album Little Honey, which he produced, sound like it was…
Category: Reviews
Album: Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog – Dyddiau Du, Dyddiau Gwyn
Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog are a three-piece band of brothers who, so they tell us, were given their name by their headmaster at primary school. Rhos Botwnnog is a tiny piece of land just north of the village of Botwnnog in…
Album: Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
Back in 2009, the 20-year-old Jessica Lea Mayfield released her debut album With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. Dan Auerbach – Ohio’s own Jack White (minimalist blues-rock band – check, endless side-projects – check, taste for production – check) had championed her…
Album: Alexander – Alexander
The ‘Solo Career’ section of Alexander Ebert’s Wikipedia page states simply and coolly: “In 2010, Alexander began to dabble with a solo career.” Imagine this line as the last of a movie trailer – the line that tells us all…
Live: Ólöf Arnalds @ Vortex Jazz Club, 1 March
I first heard Ólöf Arnalds when her song ‘Surrender’ came on the radio and made my ears prick up. Eerily understated, it quickly gets under the skin. The music video, in which a haunted-looking Ólöf wanders in damp, gloomy forest, exploring…
Album: Firefly – Lightships
Sometimes you want music that’s happy in the background: tunes and rhythms into which you can snuggle down, safe and sound and comforted. This kind of music is highly necessary and vitally important to day-to-day life. Firefly do not make…
Album: Wye Oak – Civilian
Listening to Wye Oak’s third full-length release, one conclusion among many confusions is apparent: when they’re good, they’re great. For a so-called indie-folk duo, though, it’s maybe surprising that the key component of Civilian is its unrelenting tautness. It offers…
Album: The Unthanks – Last
While rustic music of an epic thrust becomes ever more popular, sending the likes of folk pretenders Mumford & Sons all the way to the Brit Awards, the Unthanks remain something of a niche outfit, maintaining a high standing among…
Album: James Vincent McMorrow – Early In The Morning
Be warned: the rise of smokey-timbre’d troubadour James Vincent McMorrow will be littered with Bon Iver comparisons. Certainly the breathy vocals, haunting harmonies, and woodsy themes in McMorrow’s debut invite such characterizations, but Early In The Morning is no brooding…
Album: The Son(s) – The Son(s)
Back in May, The Son(s) received a glowing write-up from the FFS New Bands Panel, with words such as “ethereal”, “majestic” and “achingly beautiful” being thrown around and an appearance on the end-of-year playlist ensuing – so hopes were high…