Category: Reviews

Album Review: Ashley Campbell – The Lonely One

For women in country music in 2018 there appears to be two distinct paths to success: embrace pop trends in the hope of gaining one of the very rare slots available on radio or plough a more alternative Americana furrow in the hope of gaining credibility as an independent artist. The problem then is what happens to women who fall somewhere in between the two worlds. Ashley Campbell has a natural poppy style but like Kacey Musgraves before her, she embraces tradition and actually plays instruments. Where she fits in the industry is hard to say but The Lonely One is a fun and varied listen, showcasing a promising talent who deserves to be recognised on her own merit. Continue reading “Album Review: Ashley Campbell – The Lonely One” →

6

Album Review: Iona Fyfe – Away From My Window

Iona Fyfe is from Huntly in the North East of Scotland and has been performing folk music since she was a young child. Her debut album Away From My Window is a mix of traditional folk songs, interpretations of modern Scottish songwriters, as well as self-penned work and showcases her stunning vocal talent throughout. Still only twenty years old, Iona has been balancing full time study with her music commitments and was recently awarded the Alasdair Gray Bursary which helped to fund this project. Continue reading “Album Review: Iona Fyfe – Away From My Window” →

0

Album Review: Lucy Dacus – Historian

Famous humorist David Sedaris keeps a daily diary and once heard someone recommend the ritual because ‘after a while you stop being forced and pretentious and become honest and unafraid of your thoughts.” After listening to this new album from Lucy Dacus it was no surprise to discover that she is also an obsessive journal writer. This dedication to documenting her own history has made her a fearless lyricist and on Historian these words are illuminated by an equally fierce and uncompromising sound. Continue reading “Album Review: Lucy Dacus – Historian” →

0

Album Review: Hannah Read – Way Out I’ll Wander

Scottish musician Hannah Read now lives in Brooklyn but on her new album Way Out I’ll Wander she keeps her sounds intimate and rootsy rather than reflecting the bright lights of the city. Listening to her music you feel like you’re walking in the gloaming, along a moorland path somewhere far from civilisation. The simple black and white cover conveys the stark beauty of the folk music contained within this album. Continue reading “Album Review: Hannah Read – Way Out I’ll Wander” →

0

Dolly’s Discography – The Fairest of Them All

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Well it can only be Dolly Parton, of course, even if this album cover has her wearing one of the most ridiculous outfits of her career. Despite the impression the garish cover gives this does not mean Dolly has embraced bubblegum pop or turned into a glitzy rhinestone cowgirl (those aspects of her career are yet to come). Instead this album, released in 1970, contains southern gothic short stories of traumatic and tragic lives, continuing the trend of her previous album My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy. Dolly writes all but one of these songs, and the album really benefits from being free of the cover versions and throwaway music row songs that weakened her earlier albums. Continue reading “Dolly’s Discography – The Fairest of Them All” →

2

Album Review: Natalia Lafourcade – Musas Vol 2

Last year Mexican musician Natalia Lafourcade decided to cast off modern pop sounds and investigate the rich musical history of her Latin American heritage. Her album Musas included folk inspired originals plus covers of songs by legendary Latin musicians like Violetta Parra, Agustin Lara and Simon Diaz. It went on to win the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album as well as becoming a huge commercial success. Her second volume appears less than a year afterwards, the haste of recording partly because of the advanced ages of her collaborators Juan Carlos Allende and Miguel Pena of Los Macorinos (both in their eighties) and also due to the renewed creativity Natalia found in this project. In the songs of the past she found not only her roots but a way forward for her music. Continue reading “Album Review: Natalia Lafourcade – Musas Vol 2” →

0

Album Review: Haley Heynderickx – I Need To Start A Garden

Taking time to cultivate your music before releasing it into the world is vitally important, especially since albums come out every day and many don’t even get the chance to be heard in the infinite online din. Portland based Haley Heynderickx had some false starts before finally sewing things together on this short collection of songs called I Need to Start A Garden. Continue reading “Album Review: Haley Heynderickx – I Need To Start A Garden” →

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑