CUBS River of Amber/Frozen Waterfall (Rusted Rail, 2021) Ormai da qualche anno, Cubs è diventata la sigla che riassume le variegate anime artistiche gravitanti intorno all’etichetta irlandese Rusted Rail, delle quali ha seguito fedelmente l’evoluzione da stravaganti sperimentazioni sonore alla riscoperta di una pur mai ortodossa anima folk. Il percorso della band – che comprende…
Tag: alt-folk
[streaming] Stranded Horse – Towards A Waning Glow
Yann Tambour began recording under electronica moniker Encre. He then returned to his first love, fingerpicking guitar and started to experiment with a self-made West-African kora on which he developed his own technique. Collaborators include Ballaké Sissoko in the early days of Stranded Horse and his young disciple Boubacar Cissokho with whom he recorded his last…
[video of the week] Mirabai Ceiba and Markéta Irglová – Take On A Thousand Forms
Taken from “A Quiet Hour”, out August 27th on Spirit Voyage. In an intimate duet, Mirabai Ceiba’s Angelika Baumbach and Academy-Award winning singer/songwriter Markéta Irglová bring the poetry of Goethe to life. Working with a core group of virtuoso musicians who each recorded from studios across the globe, multi-instrumentalist Jamshied Sharifi co-produced the album with…
[streaming] Astronaute – Twist
A song about finding the fragile balance between perseverance and acceptance in friendships, written in the aftermath of a turbulent year. This single is part of a brand new EP ‘Recircle’ out June 2021. In 2013 Astronaute released their first EP ‘Myriad’. A collection of five lo-fi and acoustic songs distributed via online platform Noisetrade….
[streaming] Annie Oakley – Arm’s Length
First single off the upcoming record “Second Day of Spring”. Annie Oakley have fought hard for happiness. At just 23-years-old, twin sisters Sophia and Jo had faced a decade of darkness. Then they built lighthouses. Annie Oakley’s official debut, Second Day of Spring, is a towering beacon: a victorious indie-folk record that further introduces two…
JAMES YORKSTON AND THE SECOND HAND ORCHESTRA The Wide, Wide River (Domino, 2021)* Non è certo inedita la propensione di James Yorkston alla collaborazione con altri musicisti, originariamente con la band dei fidati Athletes, nella parentesi con i Big Eyes Family Players e poi anche nel suo percorso “solista”. Da qualche tempo, il prolifico songwriter…
[video of the week] Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy – Rooftop Garden
“Rooftop Garden” is by Lou Reed. Track released January 1st, 2021 on Drag City. Video directed by Kris Rey. Lou Reed’s vision of domestic placidity and shared moments of remove amid the urban squalor meets George Xylouris’ Cretan lute arrangement, transforming into a dervish dance for Bill Callahan and Bonnie Billy, tapping an ancient and…
[streaming] The Kindling – Flesh And Blood (Slow version)
Taken from “Flesh and Blood (single)”, released January 1, 2021 (free to download throughout January). Guy Weir – vocals, piano, guitars, drum machine. The Kindling are a minimal alt-folk band from London (UK). Their widescreen songs explore themes of disappointment and hope, loss and discovery, action and reflection. Guy Weir’s disarming voice calls to mind…
[video of the week] James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra – Ella Mary Leather
Taken from the forthcoming album “The Wide, Wide River”, out 22 Jan 2021 on Domino Record Co. James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra will release “The Wide, Wide River on January 22nd”. The album came to be after the blossoming of a long-term friendship between James Yorkston and Karl-Jonas Winqvist, the Swedish music producer,…
[streaming] Jeremy Tuplin – Night And Day
Taken from “Happiness” EP; out December 11th 2020. Somerset’s now London-residing Jeremy Tuplin is referred to by some as the pioneer of space-folk. Broadcasting stories both mundane and intergalactic, his new TV-inspired album ‘Violet Waves’ came out on 14th August on Trapped Animal Records. http://www.jeremytuplin.com/
[streaming] Caro Bridges – Angraecum Astroarche
Taken from “Remembrance Species 2020” compilation. “Remembrance Species is a collective based in Scotland, marking Remembrance Day for Lost Species on November 30th through imaginative creative community engagement.” This song is for Angraecum Astroarche, a type of orchid from Sao Tomé and Principe, presumed extinct in 2018. Its existence was recorded only once in scientific…
[video of the week] Calming River – Boats
On December 4th UK alt-folk songwriter Calming River returns with “Boats”, the harrowing first single to be taken from forthcoming debut album ‘Dead Bluebottles Supine’ (due February 2021). ‘Boats’ wonderfully captures the enigmatic songwriting style of Calming River: dextrous finger-picked guitar, shifting song structures and juxtaposed instrumentation, that all combine with significant emotional heft to…
SAM AMIDON – Sam Amidon(Nonesuch, 2020) Per la seconda volta (la prima nel 2014 con “Lily-O“), Sam Amidon si confronta con la tradizione folk reinterpretandone alcuni classici, filtrati attraverso la propria sensibilità di autore e orchestratore di suoni. Come denota l’omonimo titolo, vi è molto di personale nelle riletture di brani quali “Pretty Polly”, “Cuckoo”…
ALLYSEN CALLERY – Ghost Folk (Cosirecords, 2020) Da sempre soffusa e intrisa di ovattata magia, non sorprende che la declinazione folk di Allysen Callery diventi addirittura “spettrale” nel titolo del suo settimo disco solista. In realtà, le dodici canzoni di quasi sola chitarra e voce che formano il lavoro non si discostano in maniera sostanziale…
[video of the week] Dave Scanlon – Water’s No Crop
Taken from the album “Pink in each, bright blue, bright green”, out January 15th 2021 via Whatever’s Clever Records. Video by Nina Vroemen. Dave Scanlon is a composer, guitarist, vocalist, and electronic musician. Scanlon is an active member of the experimental rock band JOBS, pursues a practice of writing austere songs, and continues a series…
LISA/LIZA – Shelter Of A Song (Orindal, 2020) Per il suo terzo album, Liza Victoria è tornata letteralmente a rifugiarsi nella scarna dimensione espressiva di chitarra e voce che caratterizzava le sue prime produzioni casalinga sotto l’alias Lisa/Liza. Accantonate per il momento la condivisione creativa e le vesti moderatamente elettriche del precedente “Momentary Glance” (2018),…
SEAMUS FOGARTY – A Bag Of Eyes (Domino, 2020) Non ingannino i danzanti arpeggi acustici con i quali si apre il suo terzo album: già non del tutto incasellabile nell’archetipo del cantautore folk, Seamus Fogarty ha deciso di sperimentare una diversa modalità di creazione delle proprie canzoni. Pur non essendo inedito il suo interesse per…
DAVID A. JAYCOCK – Murder, And The Birds (Triassic Tusk, 2020) Reduce dai due episodi del sodalizio con Marry Waterson, David A. Jaycock torna a pubblicare un album solista ben sette anni dopo il precedente “Ten Songs”. Altre dieci nuove canzoni formano la scaletta di “Murder, And The Birds”, tutte ancora legate a un immaginario…
[video of the week] Jim Ghedi – Beneath The Willow
Taken from “In the Furrows of Common Place”, out January 22th 2021 via Basin Rock. Whilst Jim Ghedi’s previous idiosyncratic take on folk has often been instrumental, exploring the natural world and his relationship to it through his music, as seen on 2018’s A Hymn For Ancient Land. His new album In The Furrow Of…
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