Tag: Tulips

From The Aa is a new EP by MOYA SWEENEY & ARCHIE CHURCHILL-MOSS who explore what can be done with a B/C and a D/G button accordion in expert hands. Dave Malkin provides guitar support on the six original tracks. The opener, ‘For Frans’ is dedicated to Frans Vanderaa who made the duo’s instruments. It’s a mellow tune with a jokey almost ending that seems to hang on forever before it is picked up again. ‘Mollaí’s Bodhrán’ is a reel on which the guitar puts in an appearance underpinning the melody.

‘Speckles Of Yellow’ is named for the countryside around the studio where the set was recorded. It’s rather solemn short piece with long droning chords foreshadowing the approaching winter. ‘Three Nights At The Tafarn/ Jack’s First Slip’ begins reflectively – The Tafarn Tanerdy is a pub – and stays that way when the cover notes suggest it should do something else.

‘The Magician’s Look’ is a waltz with a slightly macabre feel and finally there are two tunes, ‘The Harrier Hawk’ (a bird who lived in the studio) paired with a late wedding present, ‘Isaac And Gabby’s’ written by Archie for two of his oldest friends. Not always the sort of music you might expect but most satisfying.
https://slowwormrecords.co.uk/

The second release by one of Suthering’s choirs, THE GREAT SEA CHOIR, is the EP Echoes And Falls. It opens with ‘John Barleycorn’ (but is that a hint of ‘Drunken Sailor’ we hear?) with forty-five voices wrapped around a complex arrangement. It’s a traditional song but not as we know it. Next up is ‘The Black Bull Of Norroway’, a Scottish fairytale. It’s a complex tale that is found in variations all over the world and this particular song was written by Julu Irvine for the choir. Use Wikipedia to learn the whole intriguing story.

‘Thrift’ comes from The Lost Words: Spell Songs and was arranged here by Heg Brignall. It’s the most conventional track on the record. Julu arranged the closing ‘Headwater’ which was written by Salt House. All the proceeds from the record will go to MAP (Medical Aid For Palestinians) and if you’re wondering we covered the Wheelhouse Folk Choir last month.
https://sutheringchoirs.wixsite.com/great-sea-choir

‘Where Are The Heroes’ is the question posed by MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Actually the words are by travel writer Dan Richards with music by Colin Macintyre and the song is inspired by Dan finding an old photograph of his grandfather who worked on the Great Western Railway travelling post office – “He knew every post code and every rail” – from 1949 until 1972. That’s him in the cover photograph. Dan regarded him as a hero and laments the absence of such men now. The result is a chunky slice of folk rock which avoids the temptation of a train blues style melody. It comes from MHS’ forthcoming album, In My Mind There Is A Photograph.
http://mullhistoricalsociety.com/

The post-Oysterband trio JONES, COOPER & SCOTT release their first single, ‘She Wrote Her Name Today’ inspired by a story about parents keeping vigil at their daughter’s hospital bedside. Chopper’s cello drives the song and All Scott takes the other instrumental parts. It’s an absolute knockout track and in a sane world it would be a huge hit.
https://www.johnjonestrio.org/home

Taken from her debut album of the same name, ‘Baking Day’ is the lead single by JACKIE CONN. It’s a charming song, co-written with Boo Hewerdine, as Jackie conjures up a childhood memory of Sunday afternoons with her mother in the kitchen baking cakes. Built on acoustic guitar with a sympathetic backing it’s lovely listening.
https://jackieconn.bandcamp.com/album/baking-day

From her upcoming EP, Threads, HANNAH SCOTT releases a first single, ‘In Your Light’. It begins gently with just acoustic guitar but before you know it the song has expanded into a power ballad. Hannah’s mother is an artist – she painted the cover design for both the single and the EP – and the song was written for her.
https://www.hannahscott.co.uk/

LOTTIE INGRAM is just fourteen years old with a voice that belies her youth and a songwriting ability beyond her years. Her single ‘Pretty Enough’ is a powerful song about the “cult”, if that’s what it is, of the search for body perfection and you get the feeling that only a teenager could write it. Perhaps more indie than folk but it’s an excellent song.
https://www.instagram.com/lottieingramofficial/

‘Hippies & Gypsies’ is the new country-rock single by ALYSSA BONAGURA taken from her forthcoming album, America’s Backroads. It’s an autobiographical story about a guitar she bought from a roadside store in South Dakota but it’s also about taking time to enjoy the journey. If Alyssa hadn’t done that she wouldn’t have that guitar now.
https://www.alyssabonagura.com/

The somewhat controversial KNEECAP release a single, ‘Smugglers & Scholars’ from their upcoming album, Fenian. Rap is not always easy to follow, particularly when some of it is in Gaeilge but the repeated line “American dollars” suggests a political dimension as does the boast that they “Embarrassed the police”.
https://www.kneecap.ie/

DAVIE FUREY releases a new single ‘Donegal/The Swallow’s Tail’. The former is a new song by Furey and the latter is an instrumental featuring some knockout bodhran playing by Furey himself. Donegal was inspired by Tir Chonaill Thuaith, a poem by Gerry Adams who reads excerpts from it alongside the song.
www.daviefurey.com

Widnes based singer/songwriter JENNY COLQUITT has a new album, Pocketful Of Rain, in the pipeline and from it comes a single ‘Peace Man’. Jenny has a powerful voice and the song has a powerful rock backing suiting her gutsy performance but given the nature of the song and the story behind it perhaps a more restrained arrangement might have suited it better.
https://jennycolquitt.co.uk/

Irish/Cornish singer-songwriter SAM HORAN makes his debut with ‘Ancestors’. It’s a gentle acoustic guitar song about connecting with your roots with clever lyrics as the singer “questions” an imagined forebear about his life and experiences. Ultimately, he has to admit that they will never meet.
https://samhoran.bandcamp.com/track/ancestors

A slightly hesitant acoustic guitar opens ‘Tulips’, the new single from CLAY HAZEY. Written in a cold Montreal it has a languid sort-of country vibe and Clay plays every note. There are clever lyrics – “The ghost in the house sounds just like the furnace/The cold lets itself in” and the sort-of-rhyming of “patience” with “vacant”. There is a second EP on the horizon – can we put in a bid please?
https://clayhazey.com/home

From his upcoming album of acoustic 12-string blues TODD ALBRIGHT releases Ledbelly’s ‘The Fort Worth And Dallas Blues’ with assistance from Dave Hundrieser who we suppose plays harmonica. Blues may be labelled as the music of misery but this is quite jolly with an appropriately old-fashioned slightly scratchy sound to the recording. Nice one.
https://www.toddalbright.com/

Also rooted in the past is ‘Abrew’s Portuguese Jazz’ a single by VAIANO’S PAISANOS. It isn’t jazz but it is Portuguese, being originally recorded by Augusto Abreu and his band who emigrated from the Cape Verde islands to the USA. Vaiano’s Paisanos specialise in music brought to the States by migrants in the 1920s. This string band tune was originally recorded in 1931 and is rather fun.
https://vaianospaisanos.bandcamp.com/

EILEN JEWELL applies a country-rock treatment to ‘Deportee’. The backing is a bit Johnny Cash and although the twanging guitar break is quite nice the drums are rather intrusive. While admiring the desire to bring the song into the modern world it misfires somewhat.
https://www.eilenjewell.com/

There is a nicely gentle acoustic vibe at the start of ‘What’s Mine Is Yours’ by Canadian singer/songwriter FRASER IN THE FOREST. He builds it up slowly but probably takes it too far so that by the end it is too loud and the words are practically indecipherable.
https://fraserintheforest.bandcamp.com/track/whats-mine-is-yours