Music

'It is easy to see the beginnings of things, and harder to see the ends'. Taking her title from the essay by Joan Didion which closed the author's debut collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem, this week Jess Williamson introduces her new album A Mile South of Heaven by way of the single and record opener 'Goodbye to All That'. The singer duly notes: Didion's essay is about leaving New York after eight years and how 'it's distinctly possible...

A couple of weeks ago Downbeat published their August issue and with it their 74th annual critics poll of the best in jazz. The list is a lengthy undertaking in so far as it contains 62 categories, which invite critics to vote for a mix of established figures and rising stars. The headlines for this 74th edition of the...

Following the enchanting release Gwethilu: Songs for the Dark Lake by Timoteo Carbone Hansson - a beguiling admixture of Nordic folk traditions, new age and fourth world ambiances plus swelling or cascading polyphonies drawn from the instruments and notations of early music - here comes another standout from the Gothenburg label Discreet Music over two beguiling sides which in...