Bonny Light Horseman
Rolling Golden Holy
(37d03d)
★★★★

THE follow-up to their Grammy-nominated 2020 debut of folk standards, Rolling Golden Holy finds Bonny Light Horseman skilfully fleshing out their sound and vision.

Made up of three supremely talented artists — Anais Mitchell, Josh Kaufman and Eric D Johnson — the US group recorded the album in upstate New York.

With the trio swapping vocal duties, the songs sound brilliant, which shouldn’t be surprising when you know Kaufman is very much the indie producer of the day.

And while all the 10 tracks are originals, there is an old-time feel coursing through the set, from the 19th-century-sounding soldier’s lament Someone To Weep For Me to Mitchell on Sweet Bread hoping for “Blue sky, Lord, when I die.”

Full of life and emotion, it’s a great companion piece to Mitchell’s equally exceptional self-titled record released earlier this year.

Keith Jarrett
Bordeaux Concert
(ECM)
★★★★

HAVING released recordings of his Munich and Budapest performances, the Bordeaux Concert is the third album from Keith Jarrett’s 2016 European tour.

Apparently the French press reviews at the time referenced his Koln Concert and Bremen/Lausanne albums.

Of course, while it never reaches the exquisite heights of these ’70s masterpieces — does anything? — Jarrett’s solo piano improvisations here are still incredibly impressive at this late point in his career (the 77-year-old American suffered two strokes in 2018, leaving him unable to play with his left hand).

After the searching, sometimes difficult, 13-minute opener, the magical Part III is especially lovely, the kind of soaring, romantic ballad he is renowned for. How on earth does he improvise such beauty?

Beyond being one of the all-time jazz legends, Jarrett is quite simply one of the greatest living musicians in any genre.

Dry Cleaning
Stumpwork
(4AD)
★★★

LAST year’s debut album from Dry Cleaning received rave reviews — and also made them one of the most polarising bands in Britain today.

What sets the London four-piece apart from everyone else is frontwoman Florence Shaw’s talk-singing.

Echoing Jarvis Cocker’s lyrics about the underbelly of British life, she makes deadpan observations about seemingly mundane moments, creating a very particular mood of world-weariness and cynicism.

While the press release talks of “moving forward,” Stumpwork feels a lot like their first record, with the talented band playing neat — often ’80s-sounding — indie guitar music under Shaw’s seemingly random thoughts.

As east London’s unofficial house band, I do wonder if Dry Cleaning are overhyped, and whether their songs stand up to repeated listening after being so refreshing the first time you hear them. A one-trick pony? Time will tell.