ALBUM REVIEW – EZRA FURMAN: GOODBYE SMALL HEAD

The greatest music can often be borne of desperation and crisis. While it is impossible to explain why this should be, it is surely linked to the catharsis of creativity being the best coping mechanism. Ezra Furman’s tenth album is a wonderful example of this. On 11 April 2023, she woke ill, limped to the […]
The seventh album by composer Rebekka Karijord has a multifaceted backstory that captures the imagination. Six years ago, she contacted the linguistics department at Stockholm University who undertake voice research with contact microphones used by people that have hearing and vocal disabilities. After the university made a few microphones for Karijord, she created a sample […]

ALBUM REVIEW – REBEKKA KARIJORD: THE BELL TOWER

ALBUM REVIEW – HANNAH COHEN: EARTHSTAR MOUNTAIN

When an album has such a high-quality, diverse set of influences (Dusty Springfield, Gal Costa, Minnie Riperton, Ennio Morricone, Neil Young and Sly & The Family Stone) and an individual way of realising them, it would require a complex mathematical formula to explain what has happened. It would not be fair to say that Hannah […]
Sex, death and religion. Karaoke bar violence and holy relic theft. ‘Wild At Heart’ meets ‘Seven’. Those familiar with Bambara will by now have come to expect that an album means not merely a collection of darkly alluring songs, but a narratively driven, complex and atmospherically potent cinematic trip in which each song plays out […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BAMBARA: BIRTHMARKS

ALBUM REVIEW – WILL STRATTON: POINTS OF ORIGIN

The notes that accompany Will Stratton’s eighth album, ‘Points of Origin’, state that it is a work of fiction and that any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. It is the type of statement that would normally form the caveat at the start of a film and offers […]
On her previous album, 2022’s ‘Polish The Machine’ the Brighton-based musician Helen Ganya had begun with the words “I had a fear of the ordinary.” That was apparent in a style that contained echoes of Kate Bush, The Cocteau Twins and Bjork. However, her new album, ‘Share Your Care’, marks a progression into extraordinary realms. […]

ALBUM REVIEW – HELEN GANYA: SHARE YOUR CARE

ALBUM REVIEW – C DUNCAN: IT’S ONLY A LOVE SONG

From its earliest days, pop music’s number one topic has been love. Now in an era where politics and social interactions seem ever more divisive and views are screamed with greater vehemence into echo chambers, the need to take solace in love songs is understandable. The fifth album from Chris Duncan, ‘It’s Only A Love […]
Five years after reports of Covid emerged from China, the pandemic is still having an impact upon a significant number of albums being released now. The twelfth long player from White Denim, appropriately enough called ‘12’, containing twelve tracks and being released in the twelfth month, has been shaped by different working conditions. As has […]

ALBUM REVIEW – WHITE DENIM: 12

ALBUM REVIEW – THE INNOCENCE MISSION: MIDWINTER SWIMMERS

There is a great sense of detail in The Innocence Mission’s latest album, ‘Midwinter Swimmers’. It is apparent in lyrics that have a poetic precision and colourfully capture place. The music is imbued with a fragility reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan and mingles lo-fi charm with subtle shifts to create a cinematic palette. It is a […]
With his 2022 album, ‘Chloë and The Next 20th Century’, it appeared that Father John Misty was trying to dial down the ambiguous signals that had permeated his earlier releases. Its mixture of golden era Hollywood and cruise ship opulence signified an artist happy to embrace the mainstream, an arena for which his outstanding melodicism […]

ALBUM REVIEW – FATHER JOHN MISTY: MAHASHMASHANA