On the surface Heretofore might seem a more straightforward record compared to last year’s debut album but dig a little deeper and the band’s skilful melding of the traditional and the experimental is just as apparent.
Author Matt Poacher
Bloody War: Songs 1924-1939
The songs on this release from Tompkins Square are versions of songs written as far back as the American Civil War. Their lightness of tone masks a world of knowledge most of us (thankfully) just don’t have access too.
TLOBF Interview // Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells)
Matt Poacher speaks to Alex Neilson about what has been quite a year for Trembling Bells, and his views on the inherent nostalgia of the folk scene, flowery shirts and ah, Jennifer Rush.
The History of British Music // Rob Young’s Electric Eden
Matt Poacher takes a long walk through the history of British music, using Rob Young’s recent Electric Eden as a companion.
Mogwai – Special Moves
The Mogwai live experience is a thing of controlled violence and beauty – something that has evolved from years of playing shows and playing with one another to a near telepathic understanding of build and release. Special Moves is the essential document of that experience.
Clouwbeck – From Which the River Rises
From Which the River Rises documents Richard Skelton’s fascination with the River Yarrow on the West Penine Moors and on it, like an alchemist, he manages to evoke the raw tissue of experience.
Folk Against Fascism – Volume 1
Folk Against Fascism is a double CD filled with folk luminaries working to combat the dumb belligerence of the BNP. It’s a strong collection but is it enough?
Her Name is Calla – The Quiet Lamb
The Quiet Lamb is Her Name is Calla’s debut album and is an 80-minute epic. It can be tough going but contains plenty of rewards.
Nina Nastasia – Outlaster
Nina Nastasia has added another slab to her considerable bulwark of releases. A paean to stickability it’s up there with her best work.
The Lowland Hundred – Under Cambrian Sky
The Lowland Hundred are the duo of Tim Noble and Paul Newland, currently based in Aberystwyth and Under Cambrian Sky is their first album – a response to the lie of the land, both material and immaterial.
Clogs – The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton is the first Clogs record for five years and whether there is some dark channelling afoot or just a natural progression, it’s something of a departure for them, and something of triumph.
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
For their first record in 5 years, Broken Social Scene enlist John McEntire and make what is for them, a straight up rock record. Predictably it’s something of a triumphant mess…
Trembling Bells – Abandoned Love
Trembling Bells are a band with a dense knowledge of the living traditions buried in our folk past. Abandoned Love takes on those traditions fearlessly, and with a sky-wide smile.
Pausal – Lapses
Pausal are duo from the Hampshire wilds, and have been around in one form or another for 5 or so years. Lapses is their first full length release and is a warm exploration of the wide upper reaches.
Wooden Shjips – Vol. 2
Wooden Shjips’ sound is an archaic snub-nosed fuzzy roar that sounds older than its antecedents – The Doors, The Stooges, The Grateful Dead, Suicide – and Vol. 2, which collects a bunch of extra-album material and live tracks from the last couple of years, sounds exactly as you’d expect. Which is no bad thing really…
Nicholas Szczepanik – The Chiasmus
Nicholas Szczepanik’s The Chiasmus is a towering album of huge soundscapes and measureless metallic drones. A huge statement of intent it is ambitious, poignant and profound.
