POSTS TAGGED : Folk

Eoin Dolan – ‘June Hope’

Whenever Galway musician and singer-songwriter Eoin Dolan, one of Ireland’s finest talents as it goes, releases new material it is a great day.

Following on from last year’s Commander of Sapiens – Dolan’s third album to date – new EP June Hope is a gentle, carefully crafted collection of psych-inflected indie-pop. Dolan has a remarkable ability for crafting sci-fi-tinged surf pop, marrying heartbreaking melodies and gentle instrumentation, sadness with beauty and interstellar psych-pop exploration – and this signature sound is all over ‘June Hope’. Breezy, light and thoughtful, it charts a journey from youth to young adulthood through the prism of seasonal change. It is woozy and dreamy as it drifts along a gently waltzing groove flanked by Dolan’s breezy air and twinkly guitar, while radiating a sense of hopeful optimism. As always, Dolan has delivered an absolute treasure.

Listen to the single below and check out the David Boland aka New Pope crafted video – the EP is here too.


Simen Mitlid – ‘Birds’

Simen Mitlid is a Norwegian singer-songwriter hailing from the woodlands of Os, who has a proven precocious talent for lush, dreamy indie-folk.

This assertion is given great weight by two sublime albums – 2017’s Everything is the Same & 2019’s Neutral – and not long since ushering the latter into the world, Mitlid is back offering delectable offerings from a forthcoming new album Birds. Mitlid shared the beautiful Weeks’ earlier in the year and now is the turn of title track, ‘Birds’. A gorgeous acoustic ballad about black metal, skateboarding, life, birthdays, dying and yeah, birds. Mitlid’s lilting vocals, imbued with warmth and tenderness, rises gracefully above the serene  sea of softly plucked guitar and lush choral-esque backing harmonies, as it slowly swells to a stirring and heartfelt crescendo. It is yet another charming, heartwarming and utterly bewitching slice of indie-folk – Mitlid’s calling card.

Listen to ‘Birds’ below and the new album is expected in the Autumn.

Martha Ffion Announces New Album; shares ‘After the Fact’

Glasgow-based Irish singer-songwriter Martha Ffion (aka Claire McKay) has returned with a wonderful new single ‘After the Fact’.

Working with the excellent Lost Map Records again, ‘After the Fact’ is the first taste of from her forthcoming much-anticipated second album Nights to Forget, which will be released on August 14, 2020.

Ffion’s 2018 debut LP Sunday Best is a beautiful record, filled with gleaming guitar-pop, wistful-ballads, swooning sixties inspired indie-pop and touches of folk & country, and being as it was one the finest records of that year, the expectancy levels for its follow-up are set rather high. New single ‘After the Fact’ is magnificent; it is a glorious ray of gleaming indie-pop with an underbelly of melancholy and disquiet. A fractured pop song, Ffion’s honeyed lilting vocal is juxtaposed by the stuttering groove interspersed with angular riffs and stabs of off-kilter guitar, and the results are a glorious. This captures all that is greatest about Martha Ffion’s work in just three-and-a-half-minutes – a marvelous songwriting wrapped with bittersweet indie-pop.

Check out the new single below – and keep the eyes peeled for the new record coming in August:


Michael Clark – ‘Winter Song’

UK musician Michael Clark has shared ‘Winter Song’, half of a double A single that will be released in its entirety on May 1.

‘Winter Song’ is a gentle, woozy wander, that strolls along meandering melodies and whimsical wondering, through a hazy and melancholic atmospheric world. A gently glistening strum, snappy snare and twinkly synth are intricately woven through the cloak of swirling mist while lilting, heartfelt vocals depict rich vein of imagery. Clark’s stripped-down, folk-inspired compositions create an enchanting sound that bewitches from the rumble of the first note – beautiful.

You can listen to the wistful enchantment of ‘Winter Song’ below:

Ex Norwegian – ‘Jove Was At Home’

Miami Beach psych-rockers Ex Norwegian are spending their 2020 releasing new music almost every Friday, mostly obscure covers of favourites, like this one from Irish psych-folk troupe Dr. Strangely Strange’s 1971 track ‘Jove Was At Home’. 

The original, a gentle, playful and pristine psych-folk jaunt is afforded an electric make-over into a psych stomper. While retaining the sweetness and melody of the original, this re-imagining it saunters along a swaggering groove and stomping beat amid a heady haze of warm fuzz and distortion as guitars buzz, riffs fizz and fuzz with hazy, nonchalant vocals loom large in the background. A superb and very easy on the ear tune, this is one of the more unusual things to cross my path recently but a welcome one at that. I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Strangely Strange live a few years back (on my Dad’s recommendation who is a big fan) and they were really enjoyable. 

Listen to Ex Norwegian do Dr. Strangely Strange and ‘Jove Was At Home’ below:



Simen Mitlid – ‘Weeks’

Simen Mitlid is a Norwegian singer-songwriter hailing from the woodlands of Os, who has a precocious talent for lush, dreamy indie-folk.

This statement is backed up by two sublime albums – 2017’s Everything is the Same & 2019’s Neutral – and mere months after releasing the latter, Mitlid is back with ‘Weeks’, a first offering from a new forthcoming album Birds. Featuring Norwegian contemporaries Tuvaband, ‘Weeks’ is a beautiful, dreamy and heart-melting beautiful slice of indie-folk. It is lush and dreamy, tender and intimate as woozy layers and textures abound as atmospheric tones swirl around a gentle, melodic strum. ‘Weeks’ is brimming with blossoming pop euphoria as Mitlid’s lilting vocals, imbued with warmth, add another level of  innate tenderness and compassion that is wholly irresistible. It is yet another charming, heartwarming and utterly bewitching slice of indie-folk – that new album can’t come quick enough.

Tune into ‘Weeks’ below:


Adam Melchor – ‘I Choose You’

Adam Melchor is a Jersey-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter with a penchant for rich, melodic and heartfelt old-fashioned pop songs.

On his Plan on You EP, released earlier this year, Melchor displayed a knack for atmospheric dreamy folk-pop and he is back, signing off for 2019 with another alluring pop song ‘I Choose You’. While the folk ingredients remain, Melchor has braided more pop into the mix than before, delivering a colourful confection of sweet and charming ear-worm pop. Melchor’s verses bob along the skipping rhythms, playful percussion and jangly guitar and all sewn together with sinuous melodies – an unshakable blend.

A wonderful, charming single to sign off on – listen to ‘I Choose You’ below:


Bad Flamingo – ‘Open the Gates’

Masked musical duo Bad Flamingo introduced their desert drenched, woozy Americana sounds with album I Said a Prayer Twice for Both My Faces, and companion singles last year – and as the adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Their latest single ‘Open the Gates’ another warm, woozy western slowburner. It is assured and somewhat dangerous as it swaggers along a muted guitar riff with soft, subtle drums and rolling bassline in the background, as the lead vocals claw their way through the layers of woozy, smokey atmosphere. Amid this sparse, desert drenched sound Bad Flamingo strike a balance between stomp and finesse as the combined seductive power of rhythmic, bluesy swagger and exquisite pop harmonies reels you in.

Listen to ‘Open the Gates’ below now:

Caoilfhionn Rose – ‘Being Human’

Caoilfhionn Rose is a singer, songwriter and producer from Manchester who came to our attention with the release of her exquisite debut album Awaken last year.

One of 2018’s finest discoveries, Rose’s sound draws from a deep well of folk, psychedelia and subtle electronica influences, ranging from The Mummers, to Rachel Sermanni, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Broadcast, she produces her own unique brand of beautiful, expansive, fragile and experimental psych-folk. Rose is back with a new single ‘Being Human’, the latest lifted from her debut, it is a perfect encapsulation of her exquisite sound. Shrouded in a mystic aura, it is an elegant, awe-inspiring and charming blend of pastoral psych-folk as a trickle of keys, delicate strings and warm vocals create a hazy, soothing and swirling and effervescent psych-folk. It is calm, at peace and positive as the elegant production and bewitching atmospheric tones combine to transfix entirely – not a bad place to be captive.

‘Being Human’ is below along with its visual companion, filmed in Fletcher Moss Park. The album is just as beautiful an affair – listen to it here.

Chloe Foy – ‘Without You’

Manchester-based singer, songwriter and folk artist Chloe Foy introduced herself with the beautiful, expansive and melodic folk of ‘Oh You Are Not Well’, and with a debut album in the works, Foy has returned with new single ‘Without You’.

Thoughtfully arranged and elegantly expressed, ‘Without You’ draws power from juxtaposition; it is delicate yet intense, beautiful yet harrowed, sad but resilient and uplifting. It waltzes along a cushioned bass stomp and rhythmic guitar strum amid an elegant yet increasingly intense atmosphere swirl, tempered by lilting melodies and chiming guitars. This exquisite textured backdrop is the perfect and bewitching companion for Foy’s strikingly beautiful voice to bend you to the power of its whim.

Listen to ‘Without You’ below: