Blu-ray: The Outcasts

A forgotten Irish folk horror is eerily magical and earthed in the soil

This other major work by the writer of the English folk horror landmark The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), Robert Wynne-Simmons, is more restrained than that unsettlingly erotic, dreadful conjuring of rustic demons and collective evil. He argues on his sole directorial feature’s Blu-ray debut that it isn’t folk horror at all, simply an Irish folk tale in pre-Famine days “when magic had a value”.

Album: Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat

★★★ LAURA MARLING - PATTERS IN REPEAT An intimate ode to the miracle of life

An intimate ode to the miracle of life

If there’s a rough-hewn tinge to Laura Marling’s eighth album, then there’s a wildly valid reason for it. It was written shortly after the folk singer-songwriter had her daughter, and was recorded in a home studio with the baby ever present – either in between naps, or with her bobbing around in the bouncy chair while Marling strummed and sang.

Nobodaddy, Teaċ Daṁsa, Dublin Theatre Festival review - supernatural song and dance odyssey

★★★ NOBODADDY, TEAC DAMSA Now playing at Sadler's Wells

Michael Keegan-Dolan’s genius guides us through death, separation and loss

Nobodaddy, taking its title from Blake’s violent dark-god “Father of Jealousy”, is much more than a dance piece, and Michael Keegan-Dolan, whose company was formerly known as Fabulous Beast, is more than just a choreographer, with unique takes on the total work of art already to his credit.

Here comes the flood: Bob Dylan's 1974 Live Recordings

★★★ HERE COMES THE FLOOD: BOB DYLANS'S 1974 LIVE RECORDINGS Night after night: Sony's latest gargantuan release from the vaults

Night after night: Sony's latest gargantuan release from the vaults

Lighters at the ready, because here comes the flood. Drawn from 16-track tape, 1/4in reels and lo-fi sound board cassettes that are now a half century old, the 27 CDs of 431 performances, 417 of them previously unreleased, of Dylan and The Band’s 1974 arena tour of the US, is a set that challenges the listeners’ staying power perhaps more than it celebrates an epochal tour.

Album: Isabell Gustafsson-Ny - Rosenhagtorn

★★★★★ ISABELL GUSTAFSSON-NY - ROSENHAGTORN Deeply personal sounds

Deeply personal sounds from the increasingly rare real world

In a discussion recently a friend compared generative AI to self-driving cars back in 2017: the makers were convinced, perhaps rightly, that they had solved 99.9% of the problem, and therefore would have a viable product within the year. The problem for self-driving cars back then, and generative AI now, is that the last 0.1% is something special. Intractable.

Album: Kevin Fowley - À Feu Doux

★★★★ KEVIN FOWLEY - A FEU DOUX Stunning reinterpretation of French nursery rhymes

Ireland-based polyglot's stunning reinterpretation of French nursery rhymes

“Ne pleure pas, Jeannette” is a version of the 15th-century French song "La pernette se lève." It tells the story of Jeannette, whose parents want her to marry into the gentry or royalty. She, however, is in love with Pierre. He is in prison. She vows to be hanged at the same time he is. In France, “Ne pleure pas, Jeannette” is a nursery rhyme. Versions have been recorded by Les Compagnons De La Chanson and French children’s TV favourite Dorothée.

Album: AJ Lee & Blue Summit - City of Glass

★★★ AJ LEE & BLUE SUMMIT - CITY OF GLASS Bluegrass-Americana from California

Tight, light, airy and persuasive bluegrass-Americana from California

In the world of popular music, tangential connections to success are profile-raising. They offer an immediate connection to an artist. It is beholden on me, then, despite not knowing it when I first enjoyed this album, to mention that rising Grammy Award-winning Americana star Molly Tuttle appears. She is guitarist-vocalist Sullivan Tuttle’s sister.

Album: Linda Thompson - Proxy Music

Music by appointment to folk-rock royalty, from family and friends

She has one of the most distinctive voices in folk and contemporary British music, impossible to forget once heard, and impossible to ignore. Even – or especially – as Linda Peters, singing, aptly enough, “I’ll Show You How to Sing” on a fairly obscure 1968 single with Paul McNeill.

Album: Naomi Bedford & Paul Simmonds - Strange News Has Come to Town

★★★★★ NAOMI BEDFORD & PAUL SIMMONDS - STRANGE NEWS HAS COME TO TOWN A long time coming - but well worth the wait

A long time coming - but well worth the wait

Almost exactly five years ago, I was transported by Singing It All Back Home, the third album from Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds. I gave it four stars, which in retrospect was perhaps a little ungenerous. Now at last comes a new opus from the duo, Strange News Has Come to Town, the making of which was “a long march across hard ground”, obstacles including the pandemic, as well as personal health and money issues.

Album: John Moreland - Visitor

Haunted and haunting Americana

The mournful, lonesome voice of John Moreland from Bixby, Oklahoma, will be known by a few, but not many, in this country. The 12 songs on his latest album, Visitor, released on the Thirty Tigers label, should help to remedy that.