Laura Meyer’s Been Here Before is an evenly-paced album of the contemporary blues ilk. It has many enjoyable moments, but fails to gather critical mass to ensure that it becomes a staple of this author’s rotation for the coming months.…
Category: Reviews
Album: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
‘Let England Shake’, commands the title track of this, Polly Harvey’s latest studio album. And after just one listen, I can confirm that this small corner of the West Country is very shaky indeed. The excitement isn’t just a hangover…
Album: The Flowing – Garden of England
Every now and again it comes to pass that an album shuffles its way sideways into your collection and sets up camp in your consciousness without so much as a ‘by your leave’. Suddenly you’re singing along to songs you…
Album: Sea of Bees — Songs for the Ravens
There’s something of the Scandinavian about Julie Baenziger and her one-woman band, Sea of Bees, which may come as a surprise to this Californian native but I can assure her that it’s a compliment. Perhaps it’s the ethereal quality to…
Album: The Decemberists – The King is Dead
The King is Dead heralds its arrival in triumphant form with harmonica sounding out over a marching rhythm before Colin Meloy’s voice decrees “the turning of the season”. ‘Don’t Carry It All’ is a rallying cry and an instant statement…
Live: Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown at the Union Chapel, London
First things first: Hadestown is wonderful. Despite being released just a year ago, it’s safely in my all time favourite albums list and there it shall stay. It’s an incredible record, a sad and affecting story told through smartly-observed characters…
Album: Anna Calvi — Anna Calvi
The opening track of Anna Calvi’s eponymous debut, ‘Rider to the Sea’, is gloriously filmic, a Western in two-and-a-half minutes, complete with rattlesnakes, rumbling drums and gongs. Calvi’s vocals enter only as a crescendo at the end; it’s like meeting…
Live: Roddy Woomble @ Black Box, Belfast – 30/01/2011
Roddy Woomble needs no introduction or support on a bright but chilly Belfast afternoon. We’re full of Sunday lunch and optimistic anticipation of a great show as the occasional Idlewild front man graces the stage with Seonaid Aitken on fiddle…
Live: Teddy Thompson @ Black Box, Belfast – 25/01/11
The Black Box is a dedicated arts venue in the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and tonight it’s packed for one the most keenly anticipated shows of the Out to Lunch Festival. Even though it’s a school night the beers…
Album: Tu Fawning – Hearts on Hold
The minute Tu Fawning’s debut album Hearts on Hold opens with I Know You Know, one thought will hit you. Portishead. The debt to Geoff Barrow and co. is glaring in this subtle but infectious tune. But don’t get sucked…