Lucy Roleff and Lehmann B. Smith spent the last two years conceptualising, writing and recording their new collaborative album Dark Green at a remote retreat on the Grand Ocean Road. For fans of Grizzly Bear, late-period Talk Talk, Nick Drake, Nadia Reid, Tiny Ruins and Kelly Dance. Both musicians have enjoyed critically acclaimed and wide … Continue reading
Category Archives: Folk
A DELIGHT OF FINGERPICKED GUITAR AND GENTLE HORNS FROM AARON FISHER AND ROB STEPHENSON
From my internet travels I haven’t been able to find out much about this New York duo but this track, ‘Merino Ghost‘, from Aaron Fisher and Rob Stephenson’s 2022 album Sightseeing, absolutely caught my ear and pulled me in deep with its dreamy, evocative soundscape. They navigate a beautiful space between American Primitive guitar stylings … Continue reading
DASHVILLE ANNOUNCE THE FIRST BATCH OF BANDS FOR SKYLINE IN OCTOBER
Dashville Skyline have announced the first batch of artists appearing at their annual festival in Wonnarua Country, Hunter Valley, NSW. The alt/cosmic country and folk festival runs over three days and nights, Friday 30th September, Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October 2022. Read our review of the February instalment of the festival, postponed from 2021. Joining The Black Sorrows as … Continue reading
LUCY ROLEFF & LEHMANN B. SMITH RELEASE EXQUISITE NEW FOLK COLLABORATION
There’s a pastoral elegance to ‘In The Doorway‘, the new single from Lucy Roleff & Lehmann B. Smith and the first taste of their collaborative full-length album Dark Green which will be released June 16th via the Youngbloods label. There’s a certain element of delicate yet self-assured, wistful poise that permeates the song as it’s carried … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: The Creative Flow of River Dreams
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
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