Sam Lee: songdreaming (digital, Cooking Vinyl, March 2024)

A bit out of my normal orbit, this one. I didn’t find it through any of my normal sources, but — gasp! — I heard a track from it on the actual radio, and liked it enough to look out the album. I’m glad I did.

I think this is the first pretty much straight-up British folk record I’ve bought since The Woodbine & Ivy Band’s ace 2015 album Sleep On Sleeping On. Lyrically, there’s a strong theme of nature and humanity’s relationship to it. Some tracks have a fierce line in environmental rage, others are more tender. There’s plenty of archaic phraseology, which could grate, but somehow really works here. Musically, it’s inventive, with the dominant elements of piano, fiddle, double bass, and percussion supplemented by (I read) everything from the Arabic qanun to the Swedish nyckelharpa. It’s not afraid to venture into a bit of a psychedelic wig out, descend into drone, or layer in bits of field recordings (birdsong, fittingly) — although there is plenty of more conventional folkie stuff and that’s just as strong. Bonus points for including London-based choir Trans Voices, too.

The song which I was initially drawn to, Bushes and Briars, is the first one here. But as I listen to the record, I keep finding myself thinking “maybe this one is my favourite… no, maybe this one is my favourite” about pretty much every track. Which, I think, is a sign that this is a pretty cracking album.

I bought this from the artist’s Bandcamp page.