Reviews

Tazon

Topette!!

A joint Anglo/French collaboration, balfolk band Topette!! demonstrate the power of hewing to French roots in the genre. As balfolk...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Gallants

Jim Moray

Jim Moray was a student of classical composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire when he released his first EP of five...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Peter’s Field

Sean Cooney with Eliza Carthy, Sam Carter & Jennifer Reid

Sean Cooney has got form. As one part of the Teesside trio, The Young’uns, he has built a reputation for...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Wakefire: A Summer Album

Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith

In 2019, the English folk supergroup comprising vocal harmony trio Lady Maisery (Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans and Hazel Askew) and...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Aman Aman: Greek-Anatolian Laments

Various Artists

At the turn of the 20th century, two of the most cosmopolitan cities of the eastern Mediterranean were Constantinople and...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Pölynkerääjä

Akkajee

Progressive Finnish folk duo Akkajee comprise Meriheini Luoto on nyckelharpa and vocals and Iida Savolainen on viola and vocals. Both...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Historia

Gipsy Kings feat. Tonino Baliardo

Four decades on from the ubiquitous ‘Bamboleo’, which transformed the Gipsy Kings from restaurant musicians into global stars, comes Historia....

Reviewed in issue June/2026

De Binnenbuiten

Warmoes

The debut album from a new young instrumental folk band with roots in Flemish Belgium offers a unique combination of...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

ETNO MACHINA

Joachim Mencel

Joachim Mencel is an adventurous Polish musician, composer and academic whose work has fused folk influences and jazz and who...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Dominion of Spells

Emily Portman

I’ve not heard either of the two AI-generated Emily Portman ‘albums’ that appeared, briefly, on Spotify last year, but Dominion...

Reviewed in issue June/2026