New Music 2014 - Part 37 - Nothing Can Bring Back The Time

The best way I can start this is to confess that every EP and album that Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker have released is, at least in my opinion, rather wonderful. 
 The latest release 'Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour' is equally so.

I think that, having listened all the way through a fair few times now, it marks a change of sorts. This is not a shock rather some kind of revelation. The familiar themes and the virtuosity remain intact, indeed enhanced. The music is not quite the same and perhaps the title of the LP is a reflection of that. Some of it sounds older and some of it sounds more modern yet still the resonance of the music is intact, albeit that the influences are wider. Released by independent Folkroom Records, 'Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour' is beyond good.

I haven't mentioned any songs specifically and that is for a good reason - I can't decide on a favourite and there certainly aren't any that I would rule out of consideration. It has a far wider range of backing musicians, including Josienne on recorders, saxophone and flute (I have to admit that I previously failed to recognise her instrumental contribution), Ben on most things with strings and on some tracks Jim Moray (piano). Also appearing are Anna Jenkins (violin) and Jo Silverston (viola and 'cello) [both long time members of The Red Clay Halo] amongst many others equally noteworthy. It does not fall into the trap of orchestral folk - the instruments that are deployed at any given time are economical and for a very good reason.
I for one would not wish to predict the future. Their first release that came to my attention was this in 2012:

It is still available on CD. Some examples have the printing in black or in white instead.

New Music - Part 21 - Up-coming UK folk

To be quite honest my in-box is overflowing with new things that I want to mention, hence two posts in successive days and the likelihood of several more to come before the end of this coming weekend. In contrast to yesterday's post these are all forthcoming albums and are not the début ones from the artists concerned.

This first, Over the Edge - The Carrivick Sisters, is not actually released until October 4, 2013 (physically on CD as a six-panel cardboard digi-file with lyric booklet).

If you can't wait until the release date then I suggest you check out its predecessor, From the Fields (2011), which I mentioned specifically for the song 'Charlotte Dymond'. While that one is essentially in the UK folk tradition much of this album, and I strongly suspect the new one too, happily borrows from other roots music in particular that of Appalachian and bluegrass.
Over the Edge consists of nine original songs, two original instrumentals and one traditional song. The track listing is below:

• Over the Edge
• If You Asked Me
• The Moon
• I Know You
• Making Horses
• Outside Time
• Lady Howard
• Pretty Fair Damsel
• Man in the Corner
• Old Friend
• Slap on Eleven
• Bird

If you sign up to their e-newsletter here then you can grab yourself a very good deal pre-ordering the album on CD [4 July - this offer has now ended]. Recording and releasing an album doesn't come cheap and many of the costs come up front.

The next two releases come courtesy of Navigator Records; the first is the second LP by Derbyshire singer-songwriter Lucy Ward. Her first LP, Adelphi Has To Fly, was released by Navigator Records on June 13, 2011. The next, Single Flame, is released on August 19, 2013.

Once again it combines the new and traditional, but...

If there is one single thing that makes me regret the cancellation of Frome Folk Festival 2013 it is that she was one of the confirmed artists for it. No artist wants seemingly confirmed bookings cancelled, for that matter, and I hope Frome can make it up to her in due course.

This next is from Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker; new to the Navigator Records fold with their album Fire & Fortune that is scheduled for release on July 22, 2013.

That said, if you haven't experienced the delights of their previous releases such as the Homemade Heartache EP (2012) or the albums, The Seas Are Deep and One Light Is Gone, then you already have a whole new world to discover.

2012 In Music - EPs and mini-albums

At first I used to start my annual round-up with this category, so-titled as to avoid pedantic arguments about what strictly constitutes an EP!  Where a mini-album becomes an album is similarly obscure, is it the number of tracks or the overall running time?
It was a genre that I suspected might die out but I'm happy to report that a combination of circumstances has seemingly resulted in rather the opposite. This selection is a bakers' handful of ones that caught my attention during the year and subsequently have found myself listening to repeatedly. Another new development is that I hope to include links to tracks from at least some of the works mentioned.
  
The illustration associated with the first, Craze EP - I Am Harlequin, rather befits the arts-space that the artist seems to inhabit; one where nothing is actually quite what it seems.

I Am Harlequin

My personal favourite is the last track 'Wild One'

The trio of  sisters Haim, with Dash Hutton on percussion, has been cropping up on any number of 'Ones to Watch in 2013' lists in the last month or so. With, I must add, very good reason. Were I to write such a list they would be on mine too. There's a thought; maybe I will.

Earlier this year the band released the Forever EP. As well as the d/l format there was also a very limited UK release on 10" vinyl and this is it.

  
The next artist is the first from this selection that I have actually seen playing live - at Deer Shed Festival 3 back in July though I was aware of Pip Mountjoy somewhat before that - and the first here that generally plays acoustic and solo. This is her first EP - although, at six albeit fairly short songs, it could be a mini-album.  It is available digitally but also on CD - this latter format being an entirely self-released and home-made work of art.
  

Lousiana EP - Pip Mountjoy

Pip Mountjoy at Deer Shed Festival 2012, performing one of the "new" songs.

  

Added 15 December 2012: her second EP, Your Skeleton,  is due out early in 2013 - February, hopefully.

  

This one is also self-released, by Devon-based artist Alice Jemima, and also available on CD as well as download. She is also a huge favourite amongst the writers of the blog Breaking More Waves, which I highly recommend too. Enjoy!
  

  
The following, again available on CD if you are lucky, was probably the first that I knew would be in this list. The good news is that the duo behind it are working towards an LP release of original material in 2013. In the meanwhile check out the 2009 LP One Light Is Gone.
  

Should you be wondering why my version is black and that next to the audio stream is red it is because these too are all hand printed. Mine is red for the track-listing on the reverse and white versions also exist. As of today (1 December) the CD is still available here.

Last, but certainly not least, is an artist who has just completed a pan-European tour, comprising about seventy performances, promoting this EP and also the very recently released début LP 'Under Mountains' (about which in due course).
  

Rachel Sermanni is another artist that I saw live at Deer Shed Festival.

You can get a free download of 'The Fog' (live, acoustic version), one of the four songs on the Black Currents EP, in exchange for your e-mail address, here.

  

Rachel Sermanni, live at Deer Shed Festival, July 2012.