STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
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Best of 2019: Albums
ADDRESSING THE NATION: Slowthai
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
GORDON PARSONS is fascinated by a unique dream journal collected by a Jewish journalist in Nazi Berlin
Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
OVERLOOKED by the mainstream music media in their end-of-year lists, Jeremy Dutcher’s extraordinary self-released Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa is like nothing else released this year.
Awarded the Polaris Prize, Canada’s top music honour, it’s a set of traditional songs from the 28-year-old’s First Nation community transformed into powerful piano-led ballads, backed by strings and electronics and sung in his native Wolastoqiyik language.
On the Americana front, Lambchop made a strong return with the woozy electronica of This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You), released on City Slang, while Silver Jews frontman David Berman, arguably one of the greatest lyricists of his generation, released his sublime swansong under his new moniker Purple Mountains (Drag City). Tragically Berman took his own life a couple of weeks after the album was released.
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New releases from Black Country, New Road, Anouar Brahem, and Jaywalkers
