Davey Craddock draped his debut album in Americana sounds as he wove stories about places and people, primarily in Australia. It was a superb debut and its followup, One Punch, is equally compelling whilst coming from different angles. One Punch steps back, and assesses the world with a brutal honesty. It takes stock of the … Continue reading
This the second studio album from Young’s collaboration with Promise Of The Real, the band centred around Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah. The Monsanto Years was a much straighter country rock affair while The Visitor sets out for wider and more eclectic terrain, making it his best album since Psychedelic Pill. ‘Fly By Night’ … Continue reading
Singer songwriter Cat Canteri has been slowly been building herself an impressive career that now numbers three solo albums. The sense of patience, self-determination and the evolution and refinement of her songwriting makes Inner North her most rewarding record to date. Canteri’s ability to drift between styles is a real strength and the way she … Continue reading
William Crighton’s debut album had him pegged as an Americana/gothic rock songwriter – all fire and brimstone and heart on sleeve emotion. Now, on his sophomore album, he’s expanded his stylistic palette into a whole range of sonic shades and textures. The intense and impassioned preacher is still railing from the pulpit but now you … Continue reading
The Horizon Just Laughed comes on the back of the loosely thematic trilogy of albums he recorded with producer and musician Andrew Swift. They were psychedelic in nature though still rooted in the folk form. In contrast, this feels like a retreat from the density and experimentation, to a place of reflection and solitude. Jurado … Continue reading
“I like you honey, being with you is like being alone”. It’s a line in I’ve Hurt Worse that sums up the lyrical concerns of Courtney Marie Andrews’ sophomore album in two ways. The rocky terrain of personal relationships and the mental health issues of modern society. If her debut was an impressive introduction to … Continue reading
On first listen to Ross Cooper’s third full length, I Rode The Wild Horses, you’d be excused for mistaking the subject matter as just another songwriter assuming the role of cowboy. However a little research reveals the Texan native is in fact a cowboy assuming the role of writer. Born and raised into rodeo, Cooper’s … Continue reading
Nine albums in and Calexico are still pushing the boundaries of expectations and their own creative urges. Many of their albums have sounded produced and polished – polite even. Here they dismiss any need for a clean or cohesive sound, instead adding some grit and distortion and a gauzier texture to some the album’s 15 tracks. … Continue reading
Dori Freeman only released her self-titled debut album in 2016 but she’s already gone and followed it up with Letters Never Read, an album that takes the template of her first release and adds greater warmth, soul and depth of writing. Freeman has again employed the services of Teddy Thompson as producer, and he in … Continue reading
A couple of years ago, with little money in her bank account, approaching 40 and feeling burnt out, Lindi Ortega contemplated giving music up but instead she left her label, management and agent, got engaged and left Nashville and moved to Calgary. That led to the release of her EP Til The Goin’ Gets Gone … Continue reading
Reflecting on The Disarmers previous record, Sidelong, it is near impossible for this reviewer to hear train beat and tremolo without immediately conjuring the Old 97s, and if this is the jump off, think of Sarah Shook as Rhett Miller’s badass younger cousin. Sidelong, re-released on Bloodshot in 2017, was originally recorded and self released … Continue reading
This is album number three for the French songwriter who, much like her music has to date, has had a slow-burning rise to prominence. She’s still relatively unknown but on this album she’s found the best balance to date between gothic rock ’n’ roll and a smoky country noir sound. Fearless Heart finds her ensconced … Continue reading
In the long history of duets and collaborations in the world of country music comes a new triple threat in the form of Robert Ellis, Cory Chisel and Jonny Fritz. Each are distinct artists in their own right but together as Traveller they’ve captured a really special musical atmosphere and creativity that highlights each of … Continue reading
Based in America for the last few years, Lo Carmen has slowly been absorbing that country’s country music, blending it with her atmospheric slowcore sound and emerging with beautiful new album that seamlessly connects both worlds. Lovers Dreamers Fighters is just what it says, a document of the highs and lows of relationships, the bruises … Continue reading
When Kyle Jenkins sings ‘I fell in love with your methadone eyes, upon the ground where we lied’, it gives you an idea of the territory that Suicide Swans are operating in – warts and all human emotion and experience. It’s tempered with a sympathetic and empathetic casting of Augusta’s characters and presented in a … Continue reading
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