Steve Tilston
Last Call
(Talking Elephant)
★★★★

WITH a career spanning over half a century in folk music Steve Tilston has released what is described as his last album. Accompanied by long-standing musical collaborators, it offers a reflection on his work covering social and political themes, and elements of traditional folk, blues, poetry and jazz.

Opening with the lively Apple Tree Town we then have a bluesy feeling with Biding Time. As Night Follows Day deals with insomnia and homesickness in a distant hotel room and the title track offers a solo guitar journey through different musical influences.

Political themes are present in Hard Cheese, a jazzy reflection on how the playing fields of Eton have a lot to answer for, while Get Away From My Door refers to being canvassed by representatives of the party of misrule.

Ending with the traditional Sweet Primroses, this is a fine culmination of a remarkable journey.

FolkLaw
Catch the Sun
(Fiddle of 8 Records)
★★★★★

THIS long-awaited new album from the Nottinghamshire-based sextet is a lively and energetic addition to their repertoire, with influences spanning Irish folk, reggae and folk-rock.

The opening title track is a plea to not let age dim a lust for life, and there is country folk feel in Shire Man, a celebration of working on the land. Traditional folk themes are present in Fighting for Charlie, told from the standpoint of a soldier fighting for the Royalist cause in the English civil war, though not in itself an endorsement of that cause.

The Right To Roam is a protest song about the restricting of access to land, and political themes are also present in the state-of-the-nation song In Old England, referencing food banks and police repression. But the final track Hope Is Still Alive does indeed give us cause for celebration.

Patch and the Giant
Fragments
(Folkroom Records)
★★★★

FIVE-PIECE indie-folk band Patch and the Giant released their debut album eight years ago and were in the process of completing this follow up in 2020 when lockdown and other events got in the way.

Nonetheless this short album, consisting of eight songs, has now come together and offers an eclectic take on folk music, fusing it with some roots and indie sounds. The single from the album, Bones, could express what many felt during lockdown with feelings of sadness and the darkness coming. There is also hope, however, that there is a lighthouse out there.

Themes of both melancholy and hope run throughout the album in songs like Birds in His Pocket and A Lonely View, but it ends on an upbeat note with September, a song drawing on feelings of achievement at the end of festival season. Which can also give us something to look forward to.