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(Photo: Heather Adkins)
With a sharp tongue and rough voice, Luke Roberts brings folk music into ominous territory that still works on the back porch. "His Song" is all about lyricism – a rare feat and even harder to actually pull-off. Hear more on The Iron Gates At Throop And Newport, which comes March 20 on Thrill Jockey.
Bon Iver may have sung himself to sleep on SNL, but Dublin’s answer to the Grammy-award winning artist would never do such a thing with “We Don’t Eat,” a bigger, brighter approach to James Vincent McMorrow's usual throaty folk-pop. The clang of insistent piano keys against his unmistakably heart-crushing yawl ensures, as does the addition of breakthrough orchestral strings, a powerful flexing forth in the genre; a tour de force for the weepy indie age. More on the EP of the same name (including a cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”!!), out now through Vagrant.
Portland band Tu Fawning will release its second album, A Monument, on May 15 via City Slang. The effort, a follow-up to 2010’s Hearts On Hold, features the band’s folky indie rock. “Bones” is the flagship offering from the new album – a seven-plus minute explorative number that only arrives at the vocals three minutes in. The trick works, luring the listener in with layered, pensive orchestration that slowly builds a mood until tapering out in the end.
Many decades ago, it seemed like the blues lost its way. Listen to Mississippi Fred McDowell or whoever and tell me that we're getting the real deal now. (I'll wait.) While Bhi Bhiman isn't an icon, he seems to get it, going for simplicity, rotating figures, aching vocal perfection and raw fingerpicking. Put a microphone in front of him and just capture away. His new album is called Bhiman, and you should definitely check it out if this is your thing.
(Photo: Guy Eppel)
Alex Winston is one of those rare indie gems that manages to sound demure even as she’s threatening your trifling ass or whipping power chords into your ear like leather straps. Her baby-quiver-turned-dusty-shaman command of “Fire Ant” would be menacing enough even without the western trail chorus, marching drums and backwater twinkles. And yet, she’s so gentle-seeming that you’d still let her housesit, likely coming home to find that instead of throwing a rager, she’s Feng shui’d the joint. Keep on waiting for that debut LP of hers; we hear it’s finally coming in April.
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(Photo: D.L. Anderson)
Bowerbirds: Is there nothing that their sweet, earthy folk-pop can’t remedy? Case in point, second single “In The Yard” feels like being enveloped in Grandma’s quilt. There’s something so familial and comforting in this pretty campfire duet; the soft plonking of keys, low-country strum and chorus of gentle “ohs” are woven into a patchwork of pure, woodsy warmth. This and more lovely stuff resides on The Clearing, out through Dead Oceans come March.
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"Don't let go," sings Damien Jurado on his new one "Museum Of Flight." "I need you to hang around. I'm so broke and foolishly in love." I've felt this and wanted to curl into a ball forever, but Jurado, as usual, has a better perspective on life than me. The track turns desperation into something quite beautiful with patient strumming, elegant piano stabs, strong melody and a wash of expert guitar lead. Hear more when his new album, Maraqopa, hits February 21 via Secretly Canadian.
Even within their well-honed indie ethos, there's something of a back-porch feel to The Babies – just some friends drinking some beers and kicking around some songs. The group's new EP, Cry Along With The Babies, which appears on Matt Mondanile's (Real Estate, Ducktails) New Images label is certainly a holdover until we get some glossier songs, but the loose demo quality of the recording and atmosphere on a track like "Trouble" shows the joy of creation without too much pressure.
Folk rockers Avalanche City began as the solo project of musician Dave Baxter. Baxter expanded to a full band after the release of his first effort, Our New Live Above The Ground, last year. “Love Love Love” is a jaunty folk ballad that recalls The Decemberists and The Shins with its thoughtful lyrics and hooky pop chorus.
In many ways, Brooke Fraser feels like New Zealand’s version of Feist. The Wellington artist has made genuine, accessible folk-pop since signing with Sony at age 17 (she’s now 28), and Fraser’s third album, Flags, has been popular since its release in late 2010. “Something In The Water” is the effort’s hit single – a exuberant, peppy pop number that went No. 1 in her homeland.
