JOE GILL speaks to the Palestinian students in Gaza whose testimony is collected in a remarkable anthology
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Springsteenesque cacophonies and arresting musical vision
This week IAN SINCLAIR reviews albums by Okkervil River, The Flaming Lips, and Aisha Burns
MARY CONWAY delights in a rarely performed comedy that recalls a Britain we remember in our bones
JEAN ROBERTS appreciates the way traditional panto can be remodelled into critique of the academy schools system
MARY CONWAY is riveted by a superbly crafted glimpse into the soul of a cast-off US star
MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
Okkervil River
In the Rainbow Rain
(ATO Records)
★★★★
WHILE their last record was a largely subdued, introspective affair, US indie-rock band Okkervil River’s ninth album is a poppy and relatively bright set. “I hope it’s something fun that makes people feel happier,” says songwriter and lead singer Will Sheff.
As with their mid-2000s career high point, In the Rainbow Rain is full of Sheff’s dense lyrics, many verging on short stories.
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Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Read Sisters, the journal of the National Assembly Of Women, below.
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year
