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…
Matrimony
Matrimony are an Irish man and an American woman that left their respective bands to make ‘indie-folk triumphant heart music’ together – the panel stepped in to see what that means, exactly… Gemma Hampson: Ooh, someone likes the Fleet Foxes.…
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…
Caitlin Rose on tour next week, spawns mini-me
The brilliant Caitlin Rose is over in the UK next week for a string of tourdates kicking off with a sold out show at London’s Borderline. Tickets are still available for the rest of the dates in Oxford, Exeter, Glasgow,…