Well, well, well – it seems that there is a larger amount of Welsh folk being produced than we’d previously suspected, and we have a couple more samples on this month’s Folk Roundup. Alongside that there’s another of the rather good compilations from Lush (yes, the soap people) of covers by more or less well known mainly folk artists and an album influenced by Eastern European roots. What we call a mixed bag – but not a bag of nails, man, not a bag of nails. And if there is a theme this month – well it’s probably female singers, although the final compilation in this set of reviews does broaden things out – a little.
But let’s start with the second release from Kristin Daelyn, ‘Beyond The Break‘ (Orindal Records, 2025). It’s an album that mixes guitar led folk songs with guitar instrumentals that feels like a lost album from the American folk boom Sixties., never more so than on the lost love ballad ‘Longing‘ which sadly chips along to the accompaniment of finger picked guitar all the while sounding as classic era Paul Simon as it can possibly do. Which is a very good thing. ‘Wanted‘ continues a mood of lost and floundering love, with the pain, on one side at least, of passion’s embers growing cold. The instrumental pieces ‘Quiet-Riter‘ and title track ‘Beyond The Break‘ are meditative and expand in an elegant way – far more than filler. (7/10)
Having won the accolade of Welsh Language Album of the Year award with their 2024 release ‘Mae ‘na Olau‘ Pedair have a lot to prove on their follow up ‘Dadeni‘. The title translates as Renaissance – and the quartet of Siân James, Gwenan Gibbard, Gwyneth Glyn and Meinir
Gwilym are bringing new arrangements and close-harmony vocals to their Welsh language folk. The majority of the songs are by either Siân James or Meinir Gwilym, Siân James has given the song ‘O Blwy’ Llanrwst‘ a new arrangement and co-wrote the plea for peace ‘Golomen Wen‘ (White Dove) with Gwyneth Glyn. ‘Y Môr‘ (The Sea) benefits from some lovely harp and gentle electric guitar accompanying the voices, whilst ‘Cartref‘ (Home) springs along with the increasing speed of returning steps nearing the longed for home. For ‘Golomen Wen‘ it’s all stripped back to just voices and piano. Very pretty sounds throughout, even for the non-Welsh speaker, with beautiful harmonising and gentle arrangements aiming to frame the voices to their best advantage. Certainly tranquil – perhaps a little too tranquil – but well worth the listen. (7/10)
Ainsley Hamill takes us in a Northerly direction for he third album release ‘Fable‘, which is a mix of Gaelic and English songs that draw on the folklore of Scotland. It opens with voice and mostly piano arrangement for ‘Ailein, Ailein, ‘s Fhad an Cadal‘ – a call to a martial gathering, which gives an idea of the path that the album will follow. There are other options, naturally, and ‘Machair Bay‘ is a more intimate song, sung in a light modern concert folk way – it’s a very clean and polished sound as is ‘The Angels Share‘ which inhabits lofty peaks, alone and with a clearer view both literal and metaphorical. Of the English language songs ‘The Cailleach‘ is the standout, describing the magical giant goddess who created the landscape of Scotland. Still a polished song it adds a bit of zip and coaxes a fine and passionate vocal from Ainsley Hamill. And if that had zip, then what to say of ‘Beamer Puirt‘ which embodies a chaotic ceilidh song, as it continually speeds up until it becomes a wild whirling storm of movement. ‘Ó Ho-Ró ‘Ille Dhuinn‘ and the Scots of ‘What Can a Young Lassie‘ close out the album in fine style, leaving the polish behind and inhabiting the traditional songs in a more natural – and more powerful – way. (6/10)
Daria Kulesh‘s new album ‘Motherland‘ draws on a number of geographical places that could make emotional or chronological claims to be the home nation of the Russian born singer who, over a decade, has made a strong place for herself in the British Folk Scene. There are also reflections on the change of perspectives that come with becoming an actual Mother herself. ‘Ataman‘ is the story of Alyona of Arzamas who led a Cossack army against Tsarist Russian forces – part ‘Sovay‘ in it’s up-tempo woman in a man’s role tale, but painted on a far larger canvas. It’s a song that speaks to our times, in that resistance against seemingly overwhelming force, a thought that is amplified by ‘Cossack Lullaby‘ and ‘Ukrainian Lullaby‘, the latter in particular a somewhat dissonant choice for soothing to sleep as it ebbs and swells in grimly brooding waves of sound. Whilst ‘Homeland‘ draws on an Eastern European folk sound for memories of a childhood in Russia, Daria Kulesh made an early home on Skye, and there’s as much autobiography in ‘Sea to Skye‘ which tells of finding a place to exist in the world, whilst ‘The Summer of ’46‘ is a Jacobite trail written by Robin Laing. The other cover on the album is ‘Masters Of War‘, which spits with all of Dylan’s written contempt. ‘Motherland‘ is an album with many different perspectives and it weaves the various threads together into a coherent statement through all the different styles of music. (8/10)
‘In The Bath‘ is the latest compilation release from Lush, where songs from a particular decade – and we’ve hit the nineties now – are recorded and rearranged by artists who mostly, but not exclusively, come from the wide sweep of folk from the very traditional all the way to avant garde electro-folk. And what a collection of names – Angeline Morrison, Jon Boden. Marry Waterson, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Lady Maisery, Eliza Carthy, Teddy Thompson is just a scratch at the list for the album’s thirty five tracks. As to the songs, well it’s a matter of taste, and to be fair a matter of nostalgia for the decade, and therefore likely also a matter of age. Which is to say that Marry Waterson opens the album with a very listenable ‘Say You’ll Be There‘, really well reshaped as a folk ballad – but there’s still a hint of the Spice Girls behind it – whilst Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver provide an outstanding ‘Sometimes‘, and the echo of James isn’t off-putting as the original was itself pretty acceptable. Stealing Sheep completely reinvent ‘Alright‘ turning the Supergrass song into a Tom-Tom Club / Lori Anderson mashup. Is that folk? Umm, probably not. Eliza Carthy’s conversion of Kirsty McColl’s ‘My Affair‘ bossa nova into rock-folk, with the emphasis on rock, is a powerful re-invention. Alice Faye’s version of the Dandy Warhols’ ‘Bohemian Like You‘ just sticks to the original template because – well, why not? Overall perhaps a slightly more hit and miss to the pick-and-mix affair than the Eighties themed ‘Life’s What You make It‘ but when it’s good ‘In The Bath‘ is really good so still a (7/10).
