Joe Wilkes
Hope in my Chest, Fire in My Throat
(Frontline Records)
★★★★★

THIS fifth album by Joe Wilkes is a collection of both traditional songs and original compositions, the making of which was interrupted by different life experiences including bereavement and injuries sustained after falling through a roof at Elbit Systems, arms suppliers to Israel.

Intended as both a tribute to folk traditions and challenging conventions, it includes traditional songs like Seven Gypsies and The House Carpenter in a duet with Charlotte Sometimes. His interpretation of Hares on the Mountain was recorded during lockdown and the illness and subsequent loss of his mother.

But political commentary is there in Hard Times Of Old England and his own composition We Don’t Talk About The Weather dealing with the struggle of the Palestinians. Wilkes has stated that he feels the folk scene has become too sanitised recently, and for well-off audiences. This album definitely challenges any feeling of cosiness.

Honey and the Bear
A Wish and a Tide
(Self-Released)
★★★★☆

EAST ANGLIAN duo Lucy and Jon Hart, performing for 10 years as Honey and the Bear, have released their fourth album which takes inspiration from various myths and legends from their home in Suffolk.

The opening track Close to the Edge is based on the legend of the Suffolk Merman known as The Green Man of Orford. Break From The Chain is inspired by the warrior queen Boudicca and the finding in 1907 of a life-sized bronze head of the Emperor Claudius supposedly axed from his statue in Colchester as part of her rebellion.

But social and environmental concerns are also present in Cruel Mistress which deals with erosion on the Suffolk coast and Company which looks at the negative impact social media can have on meaningful communication. On a more hopeful note Everything Will Be OK sings of caring and reassurance in these troubled times.

Hannah James and Toby Kuhn
Where Our Names Belong
(Jigdoll Records)
★★★★☆

HANNAH JAMES is part of the talented folk trio Lady Maisery and with accomplished cellist Toby Kuhn has produced a second collaborative album exploring themes of reflection and belonging in a world filled with anxiety.

The first song, Lonesome Woods, is a traditional song telling of love and betrayal. This is followed by Apple Tree, an original track singing of death and rebirth, and then Dancefloor, a bourree about the liberating impact of dance.

Chicken is a song about people who think their crowing makes the sun come up and we can speculate which public figures this might refer to. Another original track is Forest dedicated to the memory of Douglas Boise, a biologist who specialised in moths.

Old legends are invoked in The Weaver and the final track, Rising, which tells the tale of a lake-woman who roams the Slovenian countryside. True to the narrative tradition of folk song.