For River Dreams’ debut album Small Paintings, the pandemic served as the impetus, rather than a deterrent, for recording sessions to take place. Sydney musician and songwriter Carl Manwarring had been playing around the city’s Inner West bars, pubs and bowling clubs under his own name for a number of years, following an initial foray … Continue reading
Category Archives: Folk
INTERVIEW: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW – THE WEEPING WILLOWS ON THEIR NEW ALBUM
Over the last decade, across a trio of albums, an EP and countless shows around Australia and North America, The Weeping Willows have slowly but surely built a loyal audience and critical acclaim, From their formation as a side project to Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes, there was initially little ambition and certainly no long … Continue reading
FULL POWER HAPPY HOUR RELEASE JANGLY INDIE-FOLK SINGLE ‘SIBLINGS’
Brisbane quintet Full Power Happy Hour have today released their new single ‘Siblings‘ via Coolin’ By Sound, ahead of the release of their sophomore album Bit Of Brightness in September. Fans of the freewheeling and inventive folk of Big Thief and the loose guitar jangle that stretches from The Clean back to the Velvet Underground … Continue reading
LISTEN TO THE ROLLING, TUMBLING NEW SINGLE FROM VAN WALKER & THE FERRITERS
You know those songs that sound like they could just keep going and going, on an infinite one way street? ‘Imaginary Ships‘, the brand new single from Van Walker & The Ferriters, is one such song, built on a locked-in rhythm section, the guitars and mandolin adding a lilting folk-rock feel while the accordion creates … Continue reading
LISTEN TO JOYCE PRESCHER’S HAUNTING NEW SINGLE ‘SLEEP NOW’
Melbourne-based songwriter Joyce Prescher has released her new single ‘Sleep Now‘ and it’s quite the transportive and immersive listen. A cello casts a haunting pallor across the track, decorated with gentle filaments of acoustic guitar notes, the sound of brushes on a snare and Prescher’s voice – poised and precisely phrased in its melancholic folk … Continue reading
COMPELLING NEW SCOTTISH FOLK MUSIC FROM SAM SHACKLETON
Sam Shackleton has just released his album ‘Causeway Recordings’ on Bandcamp and streaming services. It’s a raw and captivating collection of originals and some traditional folk songs that showcase his rich and expressive voice and his clawhammer banjo, guitar and harmonica playing. His sound is primarily folk but it also draws from country and blues, … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Alex Hamilton – Sweetest Wine
ALEX HAMILTON SWEETEST WINE LOVE POLICE RECORDS + TAPES Alex Hamilton knows his way around high and lonesome folk-rock and on his debut solo album he reaches some wonderful high points that recall the keening, pastoral sound of Dylan, The Band and Neil Young. Hamilton used to be the songwriter and singer for Melbourne band … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Mylee Grace – Whiplash In The Moshpit
MYLEE GRACE WHIPLASH IN THE MOSHPIT LOVE POLICE RECORDS + TAPES One of the first batch of releases on the newly minted record label by Love Police, Mylee Grace returns to releasing music after relocating to the Northern Rivers region of NSW six years ago. Prior to that she’d released a solo EP in 2010 … Continue reading
ANDERS JÖRNESTEN GETS DARK AND SPARSE ON SINGLE ‘LIGHT UP MY WAY’
Swedish songwriter Anders Jörnesten has one of those deep, sonorous, gravelly and lived-in voices. Words are like intonations, hanging heavy in the air and giving greater gravitas to his lyrics. ‘Light Up My Way’ is a stripped-back acoustic country-folk track of acoustic guitar, harmonia and that voice. Beautiful melancholia. Jörnesten only started writing songs during … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: The Felice Brothers – From Dreams To Dust
THE FELICE BROTHERS FROM DREAMS TO DUST Yep Roc Records The upstate New York group, based around the brothers Ian and James Felice, have been consistently evolving their sound for 15 years now, across a brace of increasingly diverse albums that showcase the progression of main songwriter Ian’s songs, from early folk facsimiles to wildly … Continue reading
M.E. NETZKE GETS FULLY TICKLED PINK ON HIS SWEET AND MELANCHOLIC NEW SINGLE
Pedal steel tears cascade across this new single from Canadian M.E. Netzke. ‘Fully Tickled Pink’ has a baroque folk feel, bringing to mind the likes of Ron Sexsmith and a more subtle and cosmically inclined Rufus Wainwright as it washes over you with its psychedelic drift. Supremely melancholic, it subtly touches on Brian Wilson-esque west … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: ERIN RAE
Erin Rae is currently on tour in Australia with Courtney Marie Andrews on what might be one of the very first international tours we’ve seen in the last two years. Rae has just released a beautiful new album, Lighten Up, that complements her sublime and nuanced songwriting with cosmic, lightly psychedelic and baroque folk sounds … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC from Canadian songwriter Jenny Berkel
Delicate and graceful finger-plucked acoustic guitar notes fill the air before the rich and warm resonance of Canadian Jenny Berkel‘s voice emerges from the melancholic swirl of her new single ‘You Think You’re The Rain‘. That low-key introduction segues beautifully into a full band sound with a strong rhythmic push and pull and cosmic folk-rock … Continue reading
NEW SINGLE/VIDEO from folk/country duo The Weeping Willows
Melbourne duo The Weeping Willows dive into the dark and moody world of bluesy folk, temptation and sin on the latest single from their forthcoming third album You Reap What You Sow. ‘House of Sin‘ features that honeyed ache of dual harmonies that Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth do so well. Andrew, as always, impresses … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: Family Jordan
SOWING THE SEEDS OF SONGS Family Jordan continue to refine their humid and cosmic country and folk sound on their fourth album Big Grass. Ahead of their appearance at the Dashville Skyline festival next weekend (Feb 25-28th, 2022) we’re adding our interview with Jordan Rochfort of the band from last year. by Chris Familton Following in … Continue reading