Reviews

II

Fränder

Is prog folk a genre? Then Swedish band Fränder may be a fit, with their mix of bombastic vocals, heavy...

Reviewed by Devon Léger in issue: March/2024

Buile

Roehind

The brainchild of LA-based indie artist Alys Hoy (aka Roehind), Buile fuses Celtic traditional songs from across Europe with downtempo...

Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: March/2024

Solen Var Bättre Där

Ævestaden

When I reviewed Ævestaden’s 2021 debut album Ingen Mere Gråter in Songlines #176 (April 2022), I described their music as...

Reviewed by Tony Gillam in issue: December/2023

Look Over the Wall, See the Sky

John Francis Flynn

Speaking to Songlines in 2021, Irish folk singer John Francis Flynn described his debut album, I Would Not Live Always,...

Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: December/2023

Vainaan Perua: Satavuotinen Sakka

Emilia Lajunen

There’s a fascinating premise behind this new release from Finnish folk violinist Emilia Lajunen, the title of which translates as...

Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: December/2023

Ultrabelleza

María José Llergo

This first full-length album by Spanish singer-songwriter María José Llergo offers further proof of her versatile reimagining of traditional flamenco,...

Reviewed by Huw Hennessy in issue: December/2023

Cantano Gli Ucci

Mascarimirì

Mascarimirì like to say they were born in a Salento ‘not yet touristic’ and out of the union ‘between tradition...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: May/2024

Karkelo

Polenta

Polenta is an odd name for a Finnish folk band. However, in Finnish ‘polenta’ means ‘stomp’. This youthful Helsinki quartet...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: May/2024

I am Kurdish

Mohammad Syfkhan

Sometimes moments of grace spring from conflict in a way that feels like the premise for a film or a...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: May/2024

Otherness

AO Music

Imagine yourself watching a performance where musicians perform a kaleidoscope celebrating world traditions, including multi-lingual voices, sometimes mysteriously inserting newly...

Reviewed by James Rorison in issue: May/2024