2019 Folk Roundup

I know we had a rolling folk thread a couple of years ago but don’t think there was a 2019 one. I’m in a folky mood lately. What’s been good?

I’ve enjoyed the following:

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The Detectorists theme is p good

Lankum - The Livelong Day

Moving further into dark and droney territory which is lovely.

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Junior Brother - Pull the Right Rope

Full length debut from this young lad. Very singular voice and a thick Kerry accent. Some lovely guitar.

Ye Vagabonds - The Hare’s Lament

Bit of a step up for them singing to Rough Trade’s River Lea folk imprint. First album was mostly their own stuff but they’ve gone for mostly trad songs this time, albeit plenty of obscure ones. Lovely harmonies.

James Yorkston - The Route To The Harmonium

First solo album in a while, his strongest in a while as well. He’s freshened things up a bit by slipping in more of his krautrock influences on the best tracks.

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Florist - Emily Alone
Bedouine - Bird Songs of a Killjoy
Tiny Ruins - Olympic Girls
Daughter of Swords - Dawnbreaker

Not good at write ups or reviews

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Anna St Louis - If Only There Was A River

Came out last year but not given the exposure she deserves.

been meaning to check out Florist

Nvm

Shannon Lay - August

Became aware of her as she’s playing various acoustic instruments in Ty Segall’s Freedom Band on his current tour but this album is really lovely and I need to work through her previous stuff. Also extra points for this clearly DiS-baiting video.

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Florist are amazing. Check it all out. Recommend Lomelda as well if you get in with them

Daughter of Swords is one of Mountain Man. Very lovely album.

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The Molly Sarlé album is definitely worth a look into. I hadn’t heard of her before @bobsin mentioned her on a thread a few months ago. A big thank you to that DiS-er. Great album.

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This Richard Dawson album is toooooo good! The level of story telling is off the charts for me and the soundtrack to it is perfect

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Another shout for the new Lankum. Just fantastic.

They were wonderful opening The Park at Glastonbury this year and may just have indicated that they’re returning to the Farm next year. Which would be ace.

Ben

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Not sure I understand what passes for folk these days. That Richard Dawson Jogging tune doesn’t seem very folky to me, although excellent. Guess I need to forget about Fairport Convention when it comes to modern folk.

Yeah his last album was very folky, new one isn’t, but I’m not too bothered how people decide to interpret folk for the purposes of the thread tbh

genres schmenres eh !

Right enough there’s not a huge amount of folkyness going on musically but the vocal delivery/story telling very much is folky, to me anyway

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Yes. This. As much as there are conventional folk musical tropes, it’s the spirit that makes a record ‘folk’ for me. And Richard Dawson has that in spades.

Ben

1 Like