SINGLES BAR 27

A round-up of recent EPs and singles

Singles Bar 27MERRY HELL will launch their eagerly awaited acoustic album, Anthems To The Wind, in a couple of months. Forget Costa del Folk, Wigan will be the place to be! To whet our appetites they have an EP, Bury Me Naked, led of by one of our favourite songs. The acoustic line-up has given them the opportunity to completely rearrange the song with Virginia Kettle’s voice well out front and what sounds like a barrel organ giving it a jolly lift. ‘Sailing Too Close To The Wind’ is based on acoustic guitar and ‘Drunken Serenade’ is given a ceilidh feel with Neil McCartney’s fiddle driving the song. The set is finished off with an anthemic ‘No Place Like Tomorrow’. Brilliant from start to finish.
www.merryhell.co.uk

Gary Miller‘The Durham Light Infantry’ is an old song by the mighty Whisky Priests. It has now been re-recorded by writer GARY MILLER and is now the lead single from his new project, From Coalfield To Battlefield. In this version Gary is accompanied by The Ferryhill Town Band brilliantly scored by Sam Lord and producer Iain Petrie. The single includes vocal and instrumental versions and is one of the very few occasions when an instrumental is the equal of the vocal version. There’s a gorgeous riff, if that’s the right word, that serves as a fill in the song and decorates the second version. Lovely stuff.
www.whippetrecords.com

Ben Morgan-BrownHaving self-produced his first two EPs, BEN MORGAN-BROWN has enlisted Josh Clark to oversee his third, Cold Rooms. You might think that a solo voice and guitar doesn’t require a huge amount of production but Josh has certainly got the best out of the Exeter based singer songwriter. The opening title track begins gently enough but Ben’s guitar rings underneath his voice while building up to a big finish. The instrumental, ‘I See That You’, is gorgeous with an almost retro feel as Ben finger-picks a low continuo while striking plangent top notes. There are some nice synth tones at the end of ‘No More Fooling’, too.
www.benmorganbrown.co.uk

The DarkDARWIN’S DAUGHTER is better known to her family as Fiona Ruth Hannon. She lives in Ireland and The Dark is her first EP. The first thing to say is that she has one hell of a voice which stands up well to the orchestra that tries to dominate the opening track, ‘Dark Fires’. It’s better when the production takes its foot off the gas and lets us hear the trio of Anthony Gibney, Max Greenwood and Kim V Porcelli – Greenwood’s piano played at the top end of the keyboard decorates beautifully.
https://www.darwinsdaughtermusic.com/what-we-do-1/

Inni-KEithne Ní Chatháin goes by the INNI-K which is a blessing for those of us who don’t have the Gaelic. Following her debut album, The King Has Two Horse’s Ears she releases a single, ‘Edges’, before going on tour. She’s impossible to categorise with her powerful voice, fiddle and electric guitar supported by double bass and percussion. We need to hear more.
http://www.inni-k.com/

I Am A BoyKRIS WOODBIRD is something of an enigma. He lives n Stockholm and has released a number of singles over the last year of which ‘I Am A Boy’ is the latest. Very simple: just one voice and one voice, it’s desperately fragile with self-destructive overtones. He talks about smashing his head against a wall, being unworthy and living far away from home. A new album is expected this year.


We all give our spare time to run folking.com. Our aim has always been to keep folking a free service for our visitors, artists, PR agencies and tour promoters. If you wish help out and donate something (running costs currently funded by Paul Miles), please click the PayPal link below to send us a small one off payment or a monthly contribution.