What better Valentine’s Day gift could there be than a new album! Here is Silent Radio’s weekly guide.
Piers Faccinni & Ballaké Sissoko Our Calling
An intimate, side-by-side dialogue that seamlessly melds Malian tradition with English folk songwriting, sung in the English language. It is a tribute to migration in all its forms: seeds carried on the wind, migratory birds traveling between West Africa and Europe at the turn of new season, and human journeys across centuries and trade routes. As with anything featuring Sissoko’s exquisite kora playing, it is well worth a listen.
Seth Lakeman The Granite Way
The latest album from the folk singer and multi-instrumentalist takes as its theme songs about the moors and the sea together with a universal message of love and happiness. Recorded together within a week, it captures the live feel of a long-standing band playing together to produce an album that has a sense of revelry to it, marked out by some devilish fiddle playing.
Horsegirl Phonetics On and On
Produced by Cate Le Bon who led the trio into new, bright, clear, sonic territories highlighting the inventive nature of these songs. New tools help bring this world to life; violins, synths, and gamelan tiles are all woven into the record.
Jean Claude Vannier Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines
The album was created as a music score for a non-existent silent film and tells the love story of a young boy we follow through time.
Park Jiha All Living Things
On her fourth album her mastery of Korean traditional instruments (the piri, saenghwang and yanggeum) is intricately woven with deeply personal compositions and a deft use of contemporary sonics.
Santrofi Making Moves
Ghanaian band whose album delves deep into raw Highlife grooves but also introduces a new vibe of funk driven dancefloor bangers and soulful songs reflecting on life.
Bhajan Bhoy Bhoy On The Wire
Radio session from artist who blends drones, kosmische and psych.
House Of All House Of All Souls
Band consisting of former Fall members.
The Delines Mr Luck & Ms Doom
Portland-based country-soul act with a record of romantic misfits and grifters who live out of suitcases and cars, who can’t seem to settle down, who hope that in the next town or city will be the score that saves them.
Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels The Optometrist
Hull lo-fi indie pop band fronted by the leader of Edible 5ft Smiths.
Bartees Strange Horror
Across the album’s 12 new tracks are genre-bending threads of the music his dad introduced him to – Parliament Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac, Teddy Pendergrass, and Neil Young – merged with Strange’s interest in hip-hop, country, indie rock, and house.
Alessia Cara Love & Hyperbole
The record showcases her evolution as a powerhouse vocalist, empathetic songwriter, and force of nature coupled with the artistic visual which narrates the emotional impact of the song.
The Altons Heartache in Room 14
A duet album inspired by the Motown and Stax eras with a cultural lens of a group born and raised in Los Angeles.
The Nightmares Fear in Heaven
Influences on ‘Fire In Heaven’ range from Alkaline Trio, Motion City Soundtrack and The Get Up Kids, to The Cure, Interpol and Bright Eyes.
Richard Dawson End of the Middle
Here Dawson has stripped things to a bare bones essence, what is revealed is a remarkably poised, oddly elegant and beautiful collection of songs
Mantar Post Apocalyptic Depression
The ethos for this one is quick and dirty with a reversion to their punk roots.
Ron Pope American Man, American Music
It reaches back to a time of humiliating gigs in Georgia bars and long stretches making trouble with friends before the complexities of adult life started to kick in. Then Pope falls in love, gets dealt some crushing losses, and starts to take a closer look at the struggles of his community, like swaths of blue-collar areas decimated by opioid addictions.
Janine Rainforth Soul Retrieval
First solo album from lead singer and original co-founder of Bristol post-punk band Maximum Joy.
Hifi Sean & David McAltmont Twilight
It is a twelve-track night drive from dusk ‘til dawn, with all the moments in-between.
Mallrat Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right
Twelve songs explore the intangible and mysterious allure of human connection, held together by curious investigations into light.
Noémi Büchi Liquid Bones EP
Deconstructive experimental electronics, beautiful piano-led / orchestral sounds and enigmatic poetry exploring themes of impermanence
Fell Omen Invaded by a Dark Spirit
A record that’s equal parts battle hymn, eerie folk tale, and dark metal odyssey.
Frog 1000 Variations on the Same Song
An eclectic, emotional, and lyrically vivid collection, these songs see Daniel Bateman refer to My Chemical Romance, Gucci, Stillwell construction supplies, fatherhood, and the 6 train.
The None Care EP
A new band of lifelong musicians. Comprising bassist Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party, Young Legionnaire), vocalist Kai Whyte (Blue Ruth, Youth Man), guitarist Jim Beck (Cassels) and drummer Chris Francombe (Frauds), they make an uncompromising vision of noise rock with melody at its heart.
Yama Warashi At my Mother’s Piano
Mini album from Japanese artist consisting of improvisational solo piano works interlaced with vivid field recordings, inspired by a trip back to her family home in Ashiya City, Japan
Kali Trio The Playful Abstract
Repeated listens to this tranquil, ever shifting and sometimes transcendent record invoke an association with the Japanese term, “Ukiyo” (浮世), meaning the “floating world”.
Immersion and SUSS Nanocluster Volume 3
A collaboration between the electronic duo comprising the “life and art” couple Colin Newman from Wire and Malka Spigel from Minimal Compact and ambient country trio SUSS.
Tape Loop Orchestra Sabbat de Voix
Two longform pieces that trace repetition, gradual dissolution, repetition, gradual dissolution, and the narrative interplay that binds the two together.
Sicky Troubled Delight
The solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of melodic Britpop-infused indie rock could appeal to fans of Beck, Supergrass and early Blur.
Arthur Hill In the Middle of Somewhere
Singer-songwriter who combines clever wordplay with shimmery guitar melodies and smooth vocal harmonies.
Novarupta Astral Sands
The band blend post-metal, goth, and even some ’90s alternative vibes.
Punk Rock Factory All Hands On Deck
Pop punk covers band whose album includes versions of S Club 7’s ‘Bring It All Back’, B*Witched’s ‘C’est La Vie’ and Take That’s ‘Back For Good’.
The Illness Macrodosed
An alt rock collective with guest appearances from David Pajo and whose debut contains echoes of Morricone, Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Brian Eno and the Allman Brothers.
Spiders Sharp Objects
Swedish rock band known for their high-energy performances and their powerful blend of classic and modern rock influences.
Diamond Dogs & Chris Spedding Macon Georgia Giant
A collaboration in which two longstanding rock icons pay tribute.
Winter & Hooky Water Season EP
They coalesce their love for lo-fi, indie, and electronica to pair beautiful melodies with experimentation, sampling and guitar.
Gates of Light Gates of Light
The group create psychedelic, dream-pop glitch landscape of future folk through their collaborations.
Denison Winter Anything At All
Produced and recorded by Sufjan Stevens, who also performs throughout the album, Anything At All is a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs.
Art d’Ecco Serene Demon
Glitzy art-rocker who accommodates big ideas and simple truths.
Moundabout Goat Skull Table
Duo consisting of Gnod’s Paddy Shine and Phil Langero with a transmission to give flight to spectral visions and include trance-states in abundance.
