Phil King - The Wreckage
I was a big fan of Phil King's album They come, they go. I feel similarly enthused about the Bristol-based singer-songwriter's most recent album The Wreckage which was released in April. The album was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios and it's an absolute gem of an album. Many tracks have weaved themselves into the fabric of my show through playlists from April onwards.
Phil's excellent live too. I was lucky enough to see him play a short set at The Donkey in Leicester earlier in the year. If you get the opportunity to catch a live performance from him jump at it. And grab yourself a copy of The Wreckage, you will find yourself rewarded with one of this year's finest releases.
https://youtu.be/GOeOOPcNTYU
www.phil-king.net
Ellie Ford - The Other Sun
Quite often I find myself being sent albums from artists wholly new to me. Ellie Ford is one such artist and her album, a debut release on Hidden Trail Records, has made quite an impression on me.
Ellie is based in Brighton and is described as an 'alternative folk musician'. She and her band recorded this album live as much as is possible. Harp, violin, clarinet, drums and guitar all feature on this album alongside Ellie's captivating vocals and a fine mix of songs. Writing this reminds me it's about time I played another track on the show.
https://youtu.be/9XPpAe_rtJ4
www.elliefordmusic.com
The Lowest Pair - Fern girl and ice man
Another new discovery for me in 2016. The Lowest Pair are Kendl Winter and Palmer T.Lee. The two met on the banks of the Mississippi. They started making music together and the new album had it's beginnings in Minnesota in the winter of 2015. They wound up recording enough material to fill two albums, Uncertain as it is uneven (a title I think is just superb) and the album that found it's way to me at HFM Radio, Fern girl and ice man. The album is on Team Love Records which will be familiar to Simone Felice fans; Nick Baker I'm talking about you here and me and I'm sure many others. How to describe the glorious sound that The Lowest Pair make? Americana - yes; folk - yes; alt-country - yes. Just have a listen to them for yourself and I imagine you'll be hooked as I was.
https://youtu.be/hPmUevabXvI
www.thelowestpair.com
Ana Egge and the Sentimentals - Say that now
One of my favourite releases of last year was an album by American singer songwriter Vanessa Peters and the Danish band The Sentimentals who include M.C Hansen amongst their number.
Well on Ana Egge's new album (pronounced Eggy by the way) she too is joined by the Sentimentals. She certainly knows how to choose damn fine collaborators as her last album, and another of the best releases of last year for me, Bright shadow was recorded with the excellent American roots band The Stray Birds. Interestingly Ana has a connection to Denmark. Although she was born in Saskatchewan and grew up in North Dakota her mother was of Danish heritage. Indeed on her website Say that now has been described as having a sense of hygge, a Danish word that translates to warmth, cosiness, a welcoming environment. The latest album is certainly welcoming, once you've listened to it you want to keep dipping back in for more. There are some heavy topics covered on the album all with relevance to the world today yet it's been rightly referred to as both an inward and an outward looking album. I recommend it highly to you.
https://youtu.be/oOK_yd8IEmY
www.anaegge.com
Yorkston, Thorne and Khan - Everything sacred
OK, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a long-standing fan of James Yorkston's music. To be honest I like that whole East Neuk/Fence Collective thing, the amazing King Creosote and The Pictish Trail included. James is part of that. James' song Woozy with cider is probably one of my favourite records of the last 20 years. So yes, I like him a lot. And he's something of an innovator. This most recent trio project is certainly different, it kind of reminds me of, in some ways Pentangle crossed with Tinariwen with a hint of Quintessence and some Incredible String Band and...well, I could go on. However, any album that includes a cover of the late great Ivor Cutler's Little Black Buzzer featuring the Irish singer Lisa O'Neill has got to be good in my view. The band in addition to James are jazz double bass player and member of Lamb Jon Thorne and New Delhi classical singer and sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan. One of the most innovative albums of the year for me.
https://youtu.be/Xw38BNZ9dpc
www.yorkstonthornekhan.com
Richard J.Birkin - Vigils
Possibly one of my favourite record labels over the last 6 years or so is Derbyshire based Reveal. Tom Rose has some very talented people on his label and generally I've been used to receiving gorgeous albums broadly from the contemporary folk, singer songwriter and americana genres. So Richard J.Birkin's album I'll admit took me a little by surprise. A very pleasant, most welcome surprise though. It remind me in some respects of contemporary classical musicians like Dustin O'Halloran and Ed Alleyne-Johnson (around the time of his Purple Electric Violin album) and then on one of the tracks halfway through Richard comes in with some vocals. Almost impossible to try and categorise, so I won't bother, just give this album a chance, be open minded and open-eared! I think like I did you'll find it just beautiful.
https://youtu.be/lw4vuL_AN4U
www.richardjbirkin.co.uk
Edd Donovan and the Wandering Moles - Making mountains volume 1
As a radio presenter and a music lover I'm always hungry to hear new music. The ways I discover it can be many and various. Often I'll be sent a promo or a download by a label or a promoter or often the artist themselves. I may be recommended something by a listener, a Facebook friend or a musician (sometimes both). I can catch someone doing an opening set at a gig and find myself captivated by their music. Perhaps I can be leafing through one of the music magazines, R2, Uncut or Mojo perhaps or an online blog and stumble on something that has an immediate appeal or makes me want to investigate further. The latter one of my most used or over-used phrases by the way! I came to discover the wonderful music of Edd Donovan and the Wandering Moles through the recommendation of a fellow radio presenter Alex Huskisson who puts together and hosts a highly recommended show on Severn FM called the Mystery Train. Do, err, investigate further if you possibly can. You'll doubtless wind up adding lots of new albums to your to buy list. Anyway, Alex suggested to Emma from the Wandering Moles that I'd most probably enjoy the album and he was absolutely right. So thanks Alex and Emma.
Tom Robinson of BBC 6 Music has described Edd and the Moles album as "summery alt-country to gladden the heart" and Maverick magazine have referred to it as "contemporary folk with a powerful and tuneful message". I'd agree with both of these descriptions. Making Mountains is a truly excellent album, Edd is a very talented songwriter offering thought-provoking lyrics. The instrumentation just adds to the overall listening experience, you have keyboards, accordion, strings and brass plus a rhythm section. I'm very much looking forward to the follow-up record from this Cheltenham-based musician who hails originally from Merseyside. In the meantime we have Making Mountains to enjoy and I suspect I'll be looking at the previous album too, 2014's Something to take the edge off.
https://youtu.be/4dTM4M_alns
www.edddonovan.co.uk
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