Thorpe and Morrison
Grass & Granite
(Self-Released)
★★★★

ANGLO-SCOTTISH duo Harry Thorpe and Sean Morrison met in Birmingham and have produced two previous albums.

This latest offering with guest musicians like Alex Garden and Michelle Holloway takes their combination of guitar and fiddle-playing to new depths, encompassing traditional tunes with elements of Scandinavian music and Americana.

Exploring themes of longing for home while undertaking new ventures the opening track Big Skies and Water Meadows relates to Thorpe’s upbringing in Suffolk.

Another track, Coast to Coast, is inspired by photographs taken by two friends crossing mainland America.

While mainly consisting of instrumental tracks, there are also three vocal tracks. The lead single is the traditional English song The Girl I Left Behind Me and Michelle Holloway contributes vocals on Sovay. In addition, there is a cover version of the Pogues’ A Rainy Night in Soho.

A lively, energetic album on the theme of belonging. 

Daria Kulesh
Motherland
(Self-Released)
★★★★

THE release of her fourth album Motherland marks Russian-born Daria Kulesh‘s 10 years on the British folk scene. It is a deeply personal album reflecting experiences of surviving lockdown, becoming a mother and thoughts about her own homeland and the unstable world we are living in.

The album starts with Ataman Kulesh’s own song about a 17th century woman Alyona of Arzamas who defied both tsarist oppression and the confines of her gender to join a rebel army.

Ignited tells another true story of Ignatius Sancho, a black man born on a slave ship in 18th century England, who rose to respectability but never truly belonged, while The Summer of ’46 tells the journey of Bonnie Prince Charles indicating we are all “Young Pretenders” looking for a sign.

However, an amazing version of Dylan’s Masters of War best sums up the themes of war and rebellion running throughout.

Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
Fallow Alchemy
(Self-Released)
★★★★

FALLOW ALCHEMY is an album of several years in the making which explores rest and stillness and how the natural world requires a period of hibernation for creativity and new life to burst forth.

This second album of Newcastle husband and wife duo Will Finn and Rosie Calvert consists of songs concerning the relationship of humankind to wildlife. There are traditional songs such as Daddy Fox and different aspects of nature are explored in The Bee-Boy's Song, Squirrel is a Pretty Thing and The Hornet and the Beetle.

The Trawling Trade contributes a sea shanty aspect to the album but the final track is a version of Peggy Seeger's feminist song about domestic labour Lady, What Do You Do All Day?

With haunting vocals and instrumentals this album explores the world of work, nature and how we all need restfulness and reflection in our daily lives.