Earlier this week we revealed our favourite Australian (and NZ) albums of 2022 and now it’s the turn of the rest of the planet, with our main list of the year. There were plenty of familiar faces and artists we love and admire who released new records this year. As always, they hit the listening … Continue reading
As always, it’s been another strong year for local releases in 2022, as artists find their feet again and cast their creative efforts out into the world after a couple of years of turmoil. Ahead of our main album list for the year, here are our eleven favourite Australian and Aotearoa/NZ albums for 2022. As … Continue reading
Melbourne songwriter Sunset Stranger (Stephen E. Stanisic) has released the results of his latest trip to Rolling Stock Recording Rooms, under the guidance of producer Myles Mumford. ‘Prometheus Blues‘, out today via Bandcamp and streaming services, is an upbeat slice of kaleidoscopic folk, country and blues that dances lightly from the speakers. Guitars and dobro … Continue reading
Minor Gold might be a new name but dig a little deeper and you’ll no doubt recognise the key architects of this new collaborative duo – Tracy McNeil and Dan Parsons, both wonderful and successful songwriters, singers and musicians in their own right. The warm folk sound of their debut single ‘Mona Lisa‘ is the perfect … Continue reading
A haunting and delicate refrain signals the intro to Joyce Prescher‘s beautiful new single ‘Sleep Now’. Augmented by austere fingerpicked guitar, haunting cello and softly shuffling drums, Prescher sings of dreams, night and sleep as she explores the question “How much of yourself should you lose for someone else?” There’s a half-awake quality to the … Continue reading
Hailing from Liverpool England, the folk trio The Hermit reimagine traditional Irish tunes and Old English ballads alongside their own compositions with a thread of improvisation running through the music. Across six minutes on ‘Sarah wears her painted hair’, Charlie, Lynny and Michael take a languid and exploratory journey through hypnotic and lightly psychedelic folk. … Continue reading
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
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
‘The Great Unknown’ is the latest single from New Zealand songwriter HaydenGoSeek (also the front person of Cheap Fakes) and it details his travels from smalltown New Zealand to living in Australia. The song is a bristling piece of melodic country-tinged folk that wins on account of Hayden’s vocal and the counterpoint fiddle that shadows … Continue reading
I was enthralled by the sound of this track from Englishman Henry Parker when I first heard it. It dials deep into the British folk tradition but manages to harness the poetry and drama of the traditional as well as setting flight into exploratory electric psychedelic folk, as it does to great effect towards the … Continue reading
We were mesmerised when we first heard the brand new album from Blue Mountains songwriter T. Wilds (Tania Bowers), Ten Songs. Featuring Matthew Toohey, the album is a stunning set of songs that sit within the folk idiom, perfectly balanced between modern folk noir and dusty traditional forms. You can hear the avant stylings that … Continue reading
Here’s some bewitching and baroque English folk that possesses hints of Kate Bush, Aldous Harding and Joni Mitchell. Loris and the Lion (songwriter Georgia Harris and musician/producer Rich Bond) create a rich, shape-shifting piece of hallucinogenic Albion folk. What begins as an ornate and sparse sound is gradually transformed as elements are added to the … Continue reading
Trees Trees (50th Anniversary Edition) Fire Records The name Trees might not inspire immediate recognition for music fans but the English group’s brief, but bright three year existence from 1969-1972 has played the long game as obsessive psychedelic and folk musicologists discovered them and quietly spread the word. Fifty years later we have this wonderful … Continue reading
This track caught our ear for a few reasons when we first heard it. Obviously the title and subject matter… anyone willing to take a poetic swing at the evil piece of shit that is the US president gets our musical vote. Canadian Zach Kleisinger has a great cadence in the delivery of his lines. … Continue reading
Juni Habel is a Norwegian songwriter who’s recently released ‘Run Dry’, the second single from her upcoming full-length debut album, All Ears. This single possesses a swirling, otherworldly baroque folk sound , built on her wonderful acoustic guitar playing and high register vocal that recalls singers such as Joni Mitchell, Aldous Harding and others. Continue reading
POST TO WIRE 