Reviews
Romance(s)
After releasing Contos de Fados (a wordplay on ‘fairy tales’, replacing fairies with fados), Aldina Duarte decided to take time...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: June/2026
Faransiskiyo Somaliland
Fans of all things desert-bluesy should check out Sahra Halgan. She has just returned to her homeland – the fledgling...
Reviewed by Jon Lusk in issue: June/2026
Ragtime! Hokum! Western Swing!
The Holcombe Family String Band
Cued by the ‘hokum’ present both in the album title and, homophonically, in the name of the band, this reviewer...
Reviewed by Jeff Kaliss in issue: June/2026
Né So
It's easy to read too much into the circumstances surrounding the making of a record, but it's clear that some...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2026
The Longing Kind
‘For this album I didn’t want to hide behind historical disasters and mythological beastsat the expense of my own experience,’...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: June/2026
Live in Berlin
Though far less well-known than João Gilberto or Tom Jobim outside Brazil, Baden Powell was one of that select group...
Reviewed by Alex Robinson in issue: June/2026
The Watchmaker's Wife
This is a highly anticipated third album from the double-bassist and fine vocalist Miranda Sykes and mandolin maestro Rex Preston....
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: June/2026
Releasing the Leaves
Enthusiasts of English folk music will perhaps already be familiar with Dorset-based duo Ninebarrow. Their 2014 debut, While the Blackthorn...
Reviewed by Merlyn Driver in issue: June/2026
Palimpsest
For their third album, Three Cane Whale eschew their previous in-the-field approach to recording – an 18th-century Bristol church for...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: June/2026
Like a Bird or Spirit, Not a Face
You take the world's foremost female throat-singer and the rhythm section from Tinariwen, put them in the studio with Grammy-winning...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2026
