Accordions, self-made men and cloudheads

If the Grammy Awards didn’t quite reflect your tastes in music, you’re not alone. So here’s the beginning of my very alternative take on some other artists and albums that, in my humble opinion, deserve recognition for outstanding achievements in the music industry.

I’ll start with three remarkable albums by female artists. Emergency of the Female Kind is the title of Amy Thatcher & Francesca Knowles' debut album. Thatcher & Knowles are a duo from Newcastle featuring accordion and drums. It’s quite startling to hear Amy’s accordion accompanied by Francesca’s full drum kit, and with vocals and synths thrown in, the duo create a quirky and often intense sound. In what might be a riposte to Sparks’ 1974 hit, opening track ‘This Town Is Big Enough for the Both of Us’ has echoes of Gotan Project, ‘Power to the Loser’ has some of the edginess of Garbage while the title track begins with a sprightly, traditional-sounding accordion before mutating into an old-school synth motif set against Francesca’s shape-shifting drumming. Winners of Fatea Band Of The Year 2023, I look forward to hearing more from Thatcher & Knowles in 2024.  https://www.atfk.co.uk/

Rachel Baiman moved to Nashville from Chicago when she was eighteen. Her third album Common Nation of Sorrow blends political activism and self-disclosure in an engaging folk-country style. Stand-out tracks include ‘She Don’t Know What to Sing About Anymore’ (great title) and a rewrite of John Hartford’s ‘Self Made Man.’ The video of ‘Self Made Man’ is well worth a watch and captures Rachel’s sense of fun as well as her multi-instrumental musicianship. Rachel is currently touring with a few dates in the UK. Catch her if you can. https://www.rachelbaiman.com/

I’m not sure if folk artists are ever ‘propelled to fame’ but Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow certainly achieved widespread recognition for their theme tune to the BBC drama Gentleman Jack. When I saw them perform at Shrewsbury Folk Festival last August that song certainly went down well, along with the new material from the latest album Cloudheads. Belinda and Heidi are both on the autistic spectrum and the title track to this engaging album is a glorious celebration of their experiences of growing up neurodivergent. Musically, the song evokes a dizzying feeling of sensory overload while the lyrics explain: “Too loud, too bright, just not quite right, everybody’s talking in riddles and rhymes, I need more time to process and find...” Belinda is touring the UK currently, joined at certain gigs by Heidi. https://ohooleyandtidow.com/gigs/

Follow the Passengers in Time blog for more of my ‘alternative Grammy’ recommendations!