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1 Širom I Can Be A Clay Snapper (tak:til GBCD 051). Slovenian trio bow, pluck and hit an exotic array of instruments, and occasion- ally wordlessly vocalise, without overdubs. Interesting sounds and combinations, but ultimately inconsequential, more like music looking for an animated film to score than an involving arc of music. glitterbeat.com


1 Yacine Boulares, Vincent Segal & Nasheet Waits Abu Sadiya (Accords Croisés AC 167). Soprano saxophone, cello and an American jazz drummer feature in Boulares’ remembrance of stories about Abu Sadiya, a figure from Stambali, the sub-Saharan Gnawa-styled healing and spiritual cult in Tunisia. Very lyrical playing from Boulares, but really an improvised jazz album. accords- croises.com


2 Kim Lowings & The Greenwood Wild Wicked Youth (Kim Lowings). Album num- ber three finds Lowings and her chums con- tinuing to create a buzz; this sparkling new set intersperses her own engaging and catchy originals with energetic takes on traditional material. There’s absolutely nothing not to like here! kimlowings.com


2 The Doomed Bird Of Providence Bur- rowed Into The Soft Sky (Front & Follow F&F046). Vinyl and download-only release comprising two sidelong narrative composi- tions addressing the spiritual life and physical extermination of Australian Aboriginal peo- ple. Conventionally scored violin passages are combined with improvised elements created using layered diagrams. Powerful, moving and unsettling. doomedbird.com


@ Elemotho Beautiful World (ARC Music EUCD2721). Southern African music for the easy listening, middle-of-the-road market. The Namibian sings in English, Setswana and some other local languages but the production and accompaniment and the English lyrics at least are trite. Should be capable of producing music more interesting and demanding to the ear than this. arcmusic.co.uk


1 Nick Keir 1953-2013 – The Collection (Greentrax CDTRAX397). Retrospective of Keir’s work, both as solo singer and a ‘McCal- man’. With a distinctive tenor voice, pleasing guitar style if little variation in arrangements, the nearly 40 tracks are good to dip into, if perhaps too much in one lump. greentrax.com


1 Matt McGinn The Best Of Matt McGinn Volume 2 (Greentrax CDTRAX 253). On the 40th anniversary of his passing, re- release of a 2003 CD containing two RCA International albums from the 1970s. A prominent Glasgow urban singer-songwriter, and thought-provoking and funny folk singer, but the additional time passing has been less kind. greentrax.com


@ Eluveitie Evocation II: Pantheon (Nuclear Blast). Eighteen relentless songs about Celtic gods, with Euro-pop vocals and Gothzabella pipes, whistles and hurdy-gurdy. Lyrics reproduced in “well-known, magical Celtic curse inscription” style. “Pure fucking folk metal”, according to one of their numer- ous t-shirt designs. eluveitie.ch


Tilly Moses


1 Tilly Moses Alight & Adrift (Ginger Dog Records GDCD000074). She’s from York- shire and sings delicate, acoustic creations which somehow reflect the title quite appro- priately. One trad and lots more of her own compositions impress with their hushed atmosphere and quiet corners. The unobtru- sive kind of works. tillymoses.com


2 Ivan Drever & Friends Live In Orkney (Orcadian Recordings ORCCD010). Orkney’s favourite dad returns home. Recorded at last year’s Orkney Folk Festival, loads of local and well known musos, great variety (from a pipe band to Roll Over Stonehaven) and clearly an altogether splendid do. Makes you wish you were there. ivandrever.co.uk


@ Alain Genty & Joanne Mciver Eternal Tides (Buda Records 860308). Collaboration between Genty (composer, arranger, produc- er, distinctive fretless bassist) and McIver (Scottish singer-songwriter, small-pipes) and friends. Scottish-themed music and songs (English and Gaelic), mainly forgettable self- indulgent avant-garde art music with little if any relevance to fRoots readers, one suspects. budamusique.com


1 Red Shoes It Isn’t Over Yet (Cedarwood Records CEDAR 15). Aka singer-songwriters Mark and Carolyn Evans. Their latest project is a stylish double-disc set: one containing full-band settings, the other stripped-down acoustic performances – whatever best suits the individual songs. And the gambit works. Guests include sundry Fairporters and Joe Brown. redshoes-music.com


1 David Faulkner & Steve Turner More Tunes About Baggage And Hills (Sargasso Sounds EEL CD07). Two of the Eel Grinders, David on border pipes and Steve on accordeon play a variety of dance tunes, mostly from (well documented) manuscript sources with a few self-composed items. For the ordinary lis- tener, it probably lacks light and shade as well as variety. eelgrinders.co.uk


1 Vinicio Capossela Polvere & Ombra (Double CD) (Accords Croisés AC169). Two albums on separate CDs from the Italian singer/songwriter who claims his inspiration from Tom Waits. Other influences are from famed poets of various countries and ages as well as liturgical music and the traditional song of Campania. accords-croises.com


2 Alex Seel Circles (EP)(Alex Seel). Proper job, triple threat troubadour with a lovely picking style and a distinctly English turn of phrase. Poor Boy shares its title with a Nick Drake song but recalls 1970s Wizz Jones, while The Island reveals a McCartneyesque melodic faculty. alexseel.com


1 Monoswezi A Je (Riverboat Records TIGCD1103). Self-describing as “African- Nordic jazz alchemists”, this septet develops some exciting grooves on the first few tracks, particularly from the African percussion and mbira. Sadly, the album becomes repetitive so that the unaccompanied mbube-like track towards the end comes as a considerable relief. wordmusic.net


@ Adam Miller The Radio’s Taking Our Song Away (Folk Singing FS10007). Pure- voiced American offering well-known, and often-performed folk songs. Nothing exceptional. folksinging.org


2 Various Artists Hobgoblin Music – 40 Years (Hobgoblin HOBCD040). Four decades of the long-established chain of music shops (and their stalls at festivals), celebrated by 21 examples of the talented Hobgoblin staff’s impressive performance skills. Combines spe- cially recorded items with tracks from the label’s existing releases. Excellent. hobgoblinrecords.com


@ Zane Campbell Ola Wave (Emperor ER 101). Nephew of the late, great Ola Belle Reed, mountain and bluegrass singer. Zane would have been better to have tried a written tribute, as his singing is not the best. zanecampbell.bandcamp.com


1 Plaisir D’Amour Nachtvlucht (Plaisir d’Amour 0 680596 926405). Classically-lean- ing Dutch duo plays harp and violin family instruments and sings and plays traditional material from Scandinavia and various north- west European countries. plaisirdamour.nl


1 Stein Urheim Utopian Tales (Hubro HUBROCD2585). A complex exploration of microtonality through multiple conceptual and genre associations by Norwegian com- poser and slide guitarist. Contemporary jazz ensemble The Cosmolodic Orchestra utilise modular synthesiser, samples and effects alongside trumpet, saxophones and clarinet to head-spinning and haunting effect. hubromusic.com


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