Home. Beginnings. Roots. Memories. These form the common thread that weaves through Loreena McKennitt’s latest musical treasure chest, The Road Back Home. In it, she invites us to look back on her earliest days on the folk scene and lend an ear to some of her first songs – many of which have never previously been recorded – and more. This album is hugely evocative. Close your eyes and let it sweep you away to lush green meadows, craggy mountains, and cliffs with waves crashing below. Imagine tendrils of mist creeping over the grass, dense forests, simple village life and the sun breaking over ..read more

Magic is a funny thing. When it occurs there’s no stopping it, and Oisin Leech’s Cold Sea is a product of magic. The stars aligned. There’s really no other way to explain it. A pause in the world forced Lost Brothers off the road. A return to Buncrana by the sea led to the songs. One was sent to Steve Gunn who immediately responded, “I’m in.” Then Oisin suggested they rent a cottage in Donegal, hire gear and make it a road trip. Gunn was more enthused because his great grandmother was from Downings in Donegal. The magic continued with the majority of the album being recorded over the course o ..read more

The former I Am Kloot mainman’s second solo album is an unexpected departure from the sound which has made his name, and no less enjoyable for it. “I’ve not got much to say but I thought I’d say it anyway,” Bramwell sings to open ‘It’s Just You’ and indeed, the lyrical content was largely spontaneous in origin and often seems vague and throwaway – certainly in comparison to Kloot’s strongest work, though his fascination with the sky and stars remains resolutely undimmed. The interest instead comes from hearing him explore a wider range of musical styles, with a new emphasis on light ..read more

In a recording studio in Durham, NC just one month shy of losing their father, Aylnda Segarra – the songwriter behind the monicker of Hurray for the Riff Raff – committed to tape the most personal album they’d made to date. Segarra is helped along the way by a host of friends including Conor Oberst and S.G. Goodman helping out on vocals at various points. It’s also a marked departure from their much acclaimed previous release Life on Earth. Whereas that album focuses on how to survive and maybe thrive in a world deep in crisis, The Past is Still Alive finds the songs rooted in family and comm ..read more

Grandaddy main man Jason Lytle has always had a country heart, notwithstanding the skateboarding and DIY punk origins of his band’s taped-together indie rock.  Their sixth album is the one on which Lytle gives in to pedal steel and the inspiration of roaming across Nevada listening to ‘The Tennessee Waltz’. That’s not to say Blu Wav (where bluegrass meets new wave) isn’t immediately recognisable as a Grandaddy record. It’s still characterised by Lytle’s keening vocals, synth swooshes and slow ride-cymbal rhythms. But largely gone is the familiar up-tempo guitar-and-drums chug o ..read more

In their first album since the acclaimed Enter the Kingdom in 2017, Michigan’s alternative folk trio Frontier Ruckus – comprised of singer-songwriter-guitarist Matthew Milia, banjo player David Jones, and multi-instrumentalist Zachary Nichols – return in full force with On the Northline. According to frontman Milia, “The Northline was inspired partly by the North Country of upstate New York – where the Thousand Islands pepper the St. Lawrence Seaway – and where my dad’s side of the family somehow landed from Sicily in the early 1900s”.  This theme of memory and the past is a red thread t ..read more

In the four years since Itasca’s Spring the world has changed completely, so there may be no antecedents for Imitation of War. It is an electric album, but one with a delicacy unlike anything else heard this year. It exists out of time even as it has a sense of places and pathways dating back 50 years or more. Swirling and swaying it hints at everything from Fairport Convention to the Grateful Dead, without quoting them and displaying a sense of softness and simplicity difficult to match or master.  The guitar patterns of ‘Milk’ weave a spell while Kayla Cohen sings of sai ..read more

Tough times can overcome you, and they can be overcome. Every story is different, but the chances of finding a way through are much stronger with the love and support of family and friends. And that was the backdrop for the reforming of the Miserable Rich, who are back with their first record since 2011. Overcome was born out of personal tragedy – the band first reformed to play at Kit Fest, a charity festival put together by frontman James de Malplaquet following the death of his baby boy Kit – and collective need as the band grew closer and stronger as they helped one another through lockdo ..read more

In the four years since Itasca’s Spring the world has changed completely, so there may be no antecedents for Imitation of War. It is an electric album, but one with a delicacy unlike anything else heard this year. It exists out of time even as it has a sense of places and pathways dating back 50 years or more. Swirling and swaying it hints at everything from Fairport Convention to the Grateful Dead, without quoting them and displaying a sense of softness and simplicity difficult to match or master.  The guitar patterns of ‘Milk’ weave a spell while Kayla Cohen sings of sai ..read more

Tough times can overcome you, and they can be overcome. Every story is different, but the chances of finding a way through are much stronger with the love and support of family and friends. And that was the backdrop for the reforming of the Miserable Rich, who are back with their first record since 2011. Overcome was born out of personal tragedy – the band first reformed to play at Kit Fest, a charity festival put together by frontman James de Malplaquet following the death of his baby boy Kit – and collective need as the band grew closer and stronger as they helped one another through lockdo ..read more