Veritas, Louise Jordan (Azania Ltd)

2/5

Louise Jordan has certainly been busy for her latest album, on which she’s credited as singer, pianist, guitarist, writer and composer.

Unfortunately that doesn’t make this collection of folk tracks particularly good. Despite the wealth of musicians performing on it as well as her own  multi-instrumental talents, the album is a pretty dull and out-of-date collection of sickly sweet, cliched lyrics accompanied by unremarkable melodies.

“Life is what you make it/There’s beauty in all things,” she underwhelmingly sings in her opening track and first single In the End, a traditional folk song aimed at “empowering people.”

The piano playing is graceful enough, yet this bland and disappointing track is as forgettable as the rest of the album. That’s a shame because Jordan is clearly pretty talented. 

But her folky, almost classical, sound is just a few decades behind. 

Indianna Purcell

Real World 25, Various Artists (Real World Records)

5/5

This three-CD anniversary compilation of world music pioneers Real World Records is just about as eclectic as they come.

Launched by Peter Gabriel in 1989, the label has since produced over 200 albums. It’s an extraordinary roster to choose from and the 48 tracks here are crammed with big names and hidden gems.

Thus superb numbers by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Papa Wemba rub shoulders with Irish sean nos singer Iarla O Lionaird of the extraordinary Afro Celt Sound System and there’s an incendiary call to arms from the lesser-known Mexican band Los de Abajo on Resistencia. 

There’s sterling work too by east London’s very own Portico Quartet and the Anandar Shankar Experience on Line and Streets of Calcutta, to name a very few.

A marvellous collection and well worth a listen, especially if you’re new to the music that is world. 

Len Phelan

We Come From The Same Place, Allo Darlin’ (Fortuna POP!)

4/5

While it doesn’t quite reach the heady heights of their brilliant debut, this third album by the Anglo-Australian four-piece is an absolute joy.

Their trademark earnest romantic pop is still very much alive but there is a subtle sense of a band growing more comfortable in their own skin. 

Any worries that lead singer Elizabeth Morris’s recent marriage would mean she’d lose her knack for documenting the intricacies of young love and heartbreak are quickly slayed.

The bouncy, “us against the world” tour diary entry Kings and Queens is classic Allo Darlin’, while the rockier Bright Eyes is sure to become a live favourite. 

Morris herself continues to be one of the most talented, literate lyricists working today, dashing off smart, amusing couplets like “I saw you in the car park/reading Joan Didion in the dark” by the bucket load. Delightful.

Ian Sinclair