In 2011, Dakota based singer songwriter Nathan Edwards released his debut album ‘New Season’, a heartfelt collection of acoustic folk-pop tunes with a big heart. Issuing a selection of Stephen Foster penned material as a stop gap, Edwards then set about working on his second collection of new, original material. Having then taken some four years to create ‘Far Away From Here’, Edwards certainly couldn’t be accused of rushing…and the care taken in ensuring this second proper release is of a high standard is evident right from the get go.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
THE SHIP-TONES – Indie Reggae Revolution
Bringing together the disparate words of reggae and indie on their 2015 release ‘Indie Reggae Revolution’, Leeds ten piece collective The Ship-Tones bring the world some of the best mash-ups and re-imaginings since Mark Ronson dropped ‘Version’ to almost unanimous critical praise in 2007. Taking some classic sounding reggae sounds (mostly rooted in the 70s and 80s), the band rebuild a few familiar tunes from the ground up, with largely enjoyable results.
THE V – Now Or Never
Veronica “The V” Freeman will be familar to some as the vocalist with power metallers Benedictum, a US/Euro outfit who often favour bombast over decent songs. Her first solo release, 2015’s ‘Now Or Never’ (released via Frontiers Records, home of the previous two Benedictum discs) retains a fair amount of heaviness, but brings in a much welcome melodic element. The dozen featured numbers hark back to the days of classic eighties sounding metal, with tunes regularly casting Freeman in a Doro Pesche-esque mould.
HARROW – Fallow Fields
This third album by Canadian outfit Harrow is a very interesting affair. Although principally pitched as a hybrid of black and folk metal, the resultant sounds on their 2015 release stretch much further than just those musical touchstones. Taking in acoustic and even shoegazy moods, it could be said that Harrow’s take on folk metal doesn’t always the most obvious route.
MATS INGVARSSON – Hope
Bassist Mats Ingvarsson is somewhat of a fixture on the Swedish jazz scene. Over the course of several years he’s released a string of albums, sometimes as a member of Un-x-pected Pleasure, sometimes solo, but often via the specialist label Kopasetic Productions. His 2014 release ‘Hope’ enlists the talents of labelmate Maggi Olin on the grand piano and a pretty mean Fender Rhodes. Joining them, session drummer Daniel Fredrikssen and Magnus Lindberg ensure this is an impressive gathering.