Produced by and featuring Dan Whitehouse and Peter Millson with Harriet Harkum on backing vocals, Wolverhampton’s ANGELLA CORINNA releases her second EP, Nature’s End (Messenger Maiden music), the jaunty, poppily acoustic title track inspired by a 2025-set dystopian 1986 novel by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka that proved remarkably prophetic in its narrative of ecological disasters, poverty, hunger, society collapse and the extremes of politics, the track concluding that “the elite shall inherit the earth”.
The thinly veiled sarcasm of ‘Safe Brown Token’ draws on her personal experiences while working as a ‘diversity hire’, expected to be a model employee and not challenge the discrimination she encountered, the chorus with its rallying cry to ‘sing our songs’ and ‘dance our dances’, inspired by both Diversity’s dance performance about the death of George Floyd and the resulting flood of complaints and Billie Holiday classic protest song’ Strange Fruit’.
Personal experience also informs the echoey keyboards-backed ‘The Assimilation Game’ which relates how, as an ethnic minority employee unsure of her own identity, workplace bullying and racism had a devastating effect on her mental health as she fought to find her authentic self. Strummed on guitar, ‘Propaganda & Conspiracy Theories’ looks back to the COVID pandemic and how some people were ready to follow whatever regulations the government drew up without question while others were up in arms about the idea of wearing masks and social distancing, and the inevitable conspiracy theories that ensued; basically, it’s about assessing the evidence and making up your own mind. Finally, there’s ‘A Song For Humanity’, a recognition of the primal urge to come together through the unity of song and music as a way to understand others and ourselves and become one voice in a time of division.
https://www.facebook.com/AngellaCorinna/
Here’s something new – an EP released in both audio and visual formats. Live At Beckview Studios is the new release from CRAIG GOULD AND THE NOBLE THIEVES. Craig is an Americana artist from the Midlands whose debut album, Songs From The Campfire was released two years ago. Americana may be a loose definition of his music – the opening track, ‘Out Of The Woods’, is more like an epic ballad with Rosie Faith providing supporting vocals – you can’t really call them background – a style that continues with ‘Old Days’.
Then bassist Lee Cogswell and drummer Jonny Peters kick off ‘My Front Porch Neighbourhood’ which is really rocking. There should have been more in that style but ‘Dreamers’ is back in the ballad vein with Rosie again doing duties as second vocalist. There’s some lovely bass underpinning ‘Red River’, another slow-burner with a big, clanging guitar sound. Finally, the band rock again with ‘Burned’. The recording is crisp and clean, as it should be in a recording studio, and the band are on the ball but a bit more shit-kicking wouldn’t go amiss.
https://craiggouldmusic.com/
From Missouri, accompanied on electric guitar by Thaddaeus Morton, LYAL STRICKLAND self-releases his live EP, Ghost Light At The Gilloz, opening the set with the early Earle-like ‘Gatherin’ Dust’ that uses Chevy truck imagery in a song about trying to find your groove (“Cracks in the windshield/Cracks in my life…nobody wants to go slow now/Nobody wants to be last/Everybody wants their trophy wall/And I just wanna kick back…I’m gonna keep on driving from dusk til dawn/’Til that dimmer switch finally flickers on/And those bright bright lights are waiting for me/To sing my songs”). That’s a new number, whereas the others draw on past albums, the frisky rolling rhythm ‘O Arkansas’ a fatalistic love song (“I lost my head/When I lost my heart/But I know these dreams/Will never end/Where they start”) while the fingerpicked and electric complemented ‘The Hotel Maid’ speaks of the consequences of not paying taxes and finding what you’re made of (“A quarter million dollars don’t buy that much/I’m gonna need a hundred more to keep my Daddy’s place up/Three years of taxes have gone unpaid …you can’t spend your way/Outta nothin’/That’s a big hole and you’ll never climb out/But if you got a long handle/On that shovel in your hands/You might hit rock and you’ll know where you stand”). The throatily drawled ‘Misery and Mischief Prone’ again speaks of surviving what life throws at you (“I keep trudging along/Keep my head held high/’Cept for the times when it hangs real low/I go toe to toe/With life fast as I can fly… I ain’t young enough/To hide from this mortality/I know I’m gonna fight/I’m gonna have my very own hot August night”) while ‘The Cool Side of the Pillow’ traces a similar theme (“There ain’t enough cool sides of the pillow/To ease my wasted mind/When that morning light streams in the window/I turn from side to side/I bury myself beneath the bedsheets/For the first time the third time this week”) but again looking on the brighter side ( “things ain’t always gonna be this bad/I’d up and change but right now I can’t/One of these days I’m gonna get my chance”), Finally, the gravelly, slow swaying, twangy ‘Some People Change’ channels similar thoughts of into a Hail Mary storysong (“I never took the time to look at my watch/That’s like going to the store/To see what you’ve bought/There may come a time that I look back/But I’m hoping by then that I’ve lost all track/Lost one to cancer/Some others to cars/The rest of my friends are swimming in bars/One round for two turns to twelve rounds for one/The rest of us here will drink till we’re gone”). Clearly one for those who are familiar with his work, but also incentive enough to discover it.
www.lyalstrickland.com
Recently signed to Dave Stewart’s Bay Street Records, he also playing on one of the tracks as well as producing and co-writing, UK close harmony folk duo JACK & DAISY (Hunter and Taylor, respectively) make their debut with Barcelona (In The Rear View), a four-track EP which opens with the title track, which, Daisy on whispery-voiced lead and inspired by their move from Spain to New York, is a reflective anthem about new beginnings (“How’d we get this far?/With nothing but a suitcase and guitar/What a place to start”) that namechecks Cafe Wha?, a music club in the Greenwich Village where Dylan, Springsteen and Hendrix played in their early days.
The other Stewart collaboration, softly fingerpicked with an electric guitar solo and strings, ‘Life Go Easier On Me’ has a similar theme of anxious transition (“The road feels so much longer now/But I’m further from the crowd/Where I used to be/This house feels so much smaller now/And I can’t stay here on the ground/I need to find my feet… I think there’s a part of me/That just doesn’t want to leave/But I’m going with the tide/Will the water set me free?”). Likewise, the last of the originals, ‘Another Day’, touches on homesickness (“I touched down an hour ago/And I’m standing on the platform in the rain/The people look right through me/I guess to them I’m just another face and an unknown name …every day that passes by/Is further from the day we said goodbye,…and I’m just waiting for another day to end”). Fittingly, sharing verses, it consolidates the EP’s thematic thread with their gossamer light cover of Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A Changin’’. An impressive debut, their future journey should prove well worth following. www.jackanddaisymusic.com
This one was not only lost down the back of the sofa but was subsequently eaten by the dog so our profound apologies to IVOR GAME for neglecting his EP, When Will You Fall Into My Loving Arms? Ivor is a singer/songwriter/guitarist from Middlesex with a choppy, slightly funky guitar style that gives his reflective, personal songs an unexpectedly upbeat feel.
It’s the final song, ‘Will I Love Again’, recorded live, that gives Ivor the opportunity to let his hair down and he sounds better for it although the opener, ‘Does She Love Me’, gets the set off to a good start. ‘Sun On Green Fields’ might have benefited from a different style – it would have carried unaccompanied voice (or voices) very well.
The songs here are mostly very short – vignettes, really. There is such a thing as not outstaying one’s welcome but Ivor might be selling himself short, if you’ll forgive the pun.
www.ivorgame.com
A new name on the Irish folk-rock scene, County Armagh’s ODHRAN MURPHY makes an impressive EP debut with the six-track Stuck In The Middle (10K Projects) navigating love’s highs and lows, kicking off with the thumping drum beat and Munford And Sons feel of ‘Close To You’ (“You’d stay for me and that’s why I’ll leave for you /Your dream’s too big for this town we’re in/You need somewhere new/And I need to be close to you”). The title track follows, a slower but gradually gathering pace exploring a feeling of being lost (“Please forgive me/For the sins I’ve caused/See I’m stuck in the middle/Like a riddle, I can’t solve”) and lingering grief (“I’ve been battling demons on my own/The loss of loved ones that have gone before me”). Another uptempo drum-driven number, ‘Till I Found You’ again reaches out to love for healing (“I’m gonna chase this feeling down/God knows if I will make it out/I’ll follow your call so scream it out/Until I’ve found you”), while ‘Lover’ was written in the aftermath of a breakup and is about realising that sometimes love changes or fades but that doesn’t make it any the less painful (“I’ve had enough, I can’t pretend/To stay in this love oh it’s bound to end/But the shadows of my soul, chill me to my bones”). Rhythmically choppier with occasional handclaps, ‘Kerosene’ charts coming of age catharsis (“what if I don’t fit inside the box they made me carry/All this weight that I thought that I could bury/
All those years and all these tears I’ve lost…I’m done with wasting time/Trying to prove people right/All my life…So I moved some mountains/Searched and I found him/The man I was ready to be”). It ends with dancing fingerpicking on ‘Angel Of Mine’ and, while love’s found there’s still the spectre of heartache that might come (“I felt the gut punch of lost romance/And in all honest truth I just bounced right back/But they were a rain drop you’re my hurricane/And I can’t even calculate that kinda pain”). If there’s a criticism it’s that they all tend to follow a similar musical template in the melodies, guitars and drums and a slower ballad might have been a good idea, nonetheless he might well be the most promising new Irish indie folk voice since Damien Rice.
www.facebook.com/odhranmurphymusic
Hard on the heels of LIZA LO’s recent debut album comes a live EP, Familiar (Live At Gearbox) comprising three tracks from Familiar. The opening track, ‘A Messenger’, begins down in the depths of bass and piano as seems to be a growing fashion these days. It’s embellished with synthesiser, although sometimes it sounds like a trumpet, and a minimal string arrangement.
The second track, ‘Confiarme’, is based on acoustic guitar with Liza gently singing in Spanish, the title roughly translating as “trusting in yourself”. Finally comes the initially slow-burning ‘What I Used To Do’ – initially because Liza quickly picks up the pace and is almost rocking at the end.
https://www.lizalomusic.com/
‘Flame Red Headlights’ is a track from Plymouth based GOZER GOODSPEED’s as yet unnamed forthcoming album, and a great taster of what is to come! This single came out July 18th, 2025
Slightly different from his usual style, but shows off his unique singing voice, with the backing of various instruments all laid down by Gozer himself! A rather rocky, bluesy number which is very addictive!
The sleeve notes give us this insight whilst listening:
A hauntingly textured psychedelic track that blends dream and dread, nostalgia and neurosis, warmth and warning. You’ll hear echoes of confusion, paranoia and a sense of creeping realisation that might just have arrived too late. Summer seems to come with a chill this year…
For anyone purchasing ‘Flame Red Headlights’, a bonus track is being added to the download, which will not be available on its own. ‘Good to Go (Nothing Caught On Camera)’ was acoustically recorded in 2021 prior to being signed to Brighton based Lights & Lines. With warm, rich lyrics it tells of living as an outsider, looking for a way forward in life, which doesn’t need to be documented. Interesting track with an intermittent beat.
Great vocals, lyrics and musicianship. Don’t let these tracks pass you by!
For news on where Gozer is playing live and to buy his music check out his website.
www.gozergoodspeed.co.uk
A rare album will be released next month. Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 is a collection of unreleased tracks by WOODY GUTHRIE, recorded in Brooklyn in the early 50s – his final recordings before Huntington’s robbed him of the ability. Selected for single release is ‘Deportee’, a song we’re all familiar with but not like this. The recording combines reportage with a feeling of ineffable sadness as Woody drawls his way through the song with none of the sweetness that has been layered over it since.
https://woodyguthrie.org/
This is absolutely gorgeous. KATE MACLEOD discovered ‘Early Fields’ in an old Jean Ritchie songbook and it kicked off an exploration of Richie’s music. Kate is joined by Massachusetts vocal group Windborne for what was initially an unaccompanied version to which Appalachian dulcimer and electric guitar were later added. Ritchie wrote the song which sounds both traditional and Scottish and if you’ve ever wondered about the inspiration for Dylan’s ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’, wonder no more. The Jean Ritchie Experience project continues.
https://www.katemacleod.com/jeanritchie
Using electronic sampling and sound design with ghostly pulses and percussive beats, Australian darkfolk singer-songwriter RUTH HAZELTON draws on the Celtic and Nordic mythology of the selkie for self-released single ‘The Returning (Selkie)’, the story of a seal-woman reclaiming her stolen skin and returning to the sea (“if only you had not betrayed/I’d have offered my heart anyway/You tried to hide my skin from me/To learn that you cannot deceive the sea”) serving as a metaphor for the pull of home with themes of choice, agency, coercive control and the reclaiming of identity.
www.ruthhazelton.com.au
‘What Do I Do?’, the new single by JOSIENNE CLARKE, begins with bass and percussion and pretty much continues that way with minimal instrumentation supporting Josienne’s gorgeous voice. “I’m not trying to be a good girl any more” is the line that leaps out. This is a very special song both lyrically and stylistically and will have fans looking forward to her new album, Far From Nowhere.
https://josienneclarke.com/
AMY GODDARD and REG MEUROSS join forces and harmonies for her new single ‘Singing In The Darkness’, a lightly fingerpicked song of hope and staying true to our creative selves even when the world feels dark as embodied in the metaphor of birds and their dawn chorus (“they’ll start their singing in the darkness/While they’re waiting for the dawning of the light/And they’ll still be singing in the madness/While the world outside is turning black as night”). Rather lovely.
www.amygoddard.com
From her upcoming fourth album, Still A Day, Irish traditional singer and multi-instrumentalist INNI-K releases a new single, ‘In The Beat’. Her crystalline voice rises above a deliciously gloomy introduction which sweetens towards the end of the song and her deep feeling for traditional music shines through.
https://www.inni-k.com/
‘Ebb & Flow’ is the gentle new single by THE MAGPIES, taken from their forthcoming EP, The One Thing That I Know. Holly Brandon’s fiddle and Bella Gaffney’s (mostly) restrained banjo accompany a song in praise of the female free-divers of South Korea’s Jeju island. They don’t do it for fun but to gather seaweed and seafood including a species of clam famed for its mother-of-pearl.
https://www.themagpiesmusic.com/
With a new album on the horizon, KATHRYN WILLIAMS collaborates with Polly Palusma on a single. ‘Tender’. It’s a beautiful acoustic song – “A barcode of trees and a carpet of green” sets the scene – with a slightly bizarre video.
https://www.kathrynwilliams.co.uk/
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