Keep Me On Your Mind/ See You Free by Bonny Light Horseman
Photo: Jagjaguar
Listening to the third album by this American folk trio, I was surprised to hear a cough during one song. It's so beautifully tracked and performed that I hadn't suspected any live recording, but it turns out much of it was captured at a pub in Ireland's County Cork.
It's an appropriate setting for a band who started out doing versions of traditional folk songs. They initially formed when invited by Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner from The National to perform at a festival, Dessner having worked with singer Anaïs Mitchell and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman before.
Third member Eric Johnson was in The Shins' touring band for four years, but is better known as the sole member of Fruit Bats, outputting records on labels like Sub Pop and Merge.
The album runs a whopping 20 tracks, (two of which are field recordings from that Irish pub). Its length reflects the fertility of these three musical minds, and the strike rate of hummable tunes is surprisingly high.
Sometimes mournful and sparse, elsewhere chirpy and full, the band excel at rousing numbers like 'The Clover', and 'Tumblin' Down'.
This Ain't The Way You Go Out by Lucy Rose
Photo: Bandcamp
British singer-songwriter Lucy Rose began her career penning folk music, but in the decade-plus since then has taken a turn toward soul, particularly on her fifth album.
That might be partly due to production from London musician Kwes, who makes melancholic bass music himself. Their partnership has led to an album of very British-sounding tracks, guided by Rose's smooth voice.
'Light as Grass' leans into its kick thump and tumbling keys, making room for an airy, slightly psychedelic chorus. Later in the album, 'Life's Too Short' is comparatively curt, hemmed in over a steady bass throb.
Some songs start to head into a bit of a malaise, when the beats drop out and Lucy Rose gets very sombre. It's the livelier ones that have stuck with me, mixing her polite impulses with some rhythmic heft.
Red Mile by Crack Cloud
Photo: Megan Magdalena Bourne
The third album by this Canadian musical collective is crammed with ideas - philosophical, musical, satirical - but they're presented in easily digestible songs, four-chord charmers that draw on classic rock and punk.
The band started as a solo project for frontman Zack Choy, before adding band members he met through addiction recovery and mental health programmes, (participants as well as support workers). They have as many prior members as current.
Choy brings a scabrous wit to the songs, ruminating on writer's block on 'Epitaph', and laying into pop music on 'The Medium', with the line "Catchy platitudes for the restless mind/ Peppy plastic melodies we hear all the time".
His words are as bruising in their honesty as they are delivery, but surrounded with music that's always hyper-tuneful and carefully arranged. The result is a mix of broad and blunt that's a lot of fun to listen to.
Tony Stamp reviews the latest album releases every week on The Sampler.