Sounds of 2021

With more time to spend listening this year, I have made twenty selections for my 'Sounds of 2021' playlist. 'Unwrapping' my musical tastes thanks to a music algorithm is not really my way. Last year I was told that the genre that best typified me was 'Seattle Indie'? This year, I'm told that 'Chamber Psyche' …

“The Foghorn’s Lament: The Disappearing Music of the Coast”: Jennifer Lucy Allan

There are some far flung corners of mind which can only be summoned by sound (just as with smell, texture, even colours) - some corners more distant than others. There is one vague, definitely greyed-out location, where I’m on some kind of quayside location. My grandad used to drive HGV lorries for a stint when …

Sounds of 2020

It has been tough to pick twelve tracks which represent my favourite 'Sounds of 2020', but these are my best attempt to do so. With a neurological condition that suppresses my immune system, like many, I have been shielding for most of the year. It has meant that the radio, and in particular, music has …

Down With The Kids – Polyhymns’ sound of parenthood and isolation in the digital age is with me in lockdown

I’ve tended to withdraw from social media to a great extent while I’ve been shielding during the lockdown. It was getting a bit too much. It’s no overstatement to say that music has been a real lifeline during the last couple of months, and one track in particular in recent days has done the business. …

Sounds of 2019

It's that time of year when lists of favourite albums of the year, or 'Sounds of 2019' are compiled. This year, I've decided to put together two lists. The first is my 'Sounds of 2019' - albums released this year which I've been introduced to through tracks played on UK radio. A huge thanks to …

Best of 2018

As ever, it has been a tough call pulling together my top tracks of the year, but in what has been a difficult year due to deaths in the family, and against the backdrop of stagnant cesspit of national politics, it has been a usefully therapeutic exercise. I've included links to videos of my twelve …

Maltings radio project takes to the air

The Farnham Maltings is using the occasion of World Radio Day on Monday 13 February to announce that it is to launch its own radio project – and it wants the community to get involved. ‘Sound Vault’ will take to the air in the next year, and will seek to create a ‘radio space for …