Enya
Dark Sky Island
THE Donegal singer's unmistakeable blend of entrancing rhythms and haunting voice is back with her eighth album (the first new one in seven years), which has a theme of journeys and creates more of the magic she is known for.
Echoes In Rain brings back memories of Orinoco Flow with its infectious tones, while opening track The Humming... only takes one listen to establish itself as a memorably brilliant piece of music.
The Forge Of The Angels transports the listener to a vast cathedral so spiritual and ethereal is its sound, while Even In The Shadows dabbles with a more mainstream style without losing Enya's stamp of originality.
Astra Et Luna and The Loxian Gates both have a beautiful pluckiness about them, with the latter demanding you sway in time to the beat. Pure Enya, this is sure to delight fans.
FOUR STARS
Catherine Wylie
Emilie & Ogden
10 000
CANADIAN singer-songwriter and harpist Emilie Kahn will no doubt draw comparisons with Joanna Newsom, and it is easy to understand why with 10 000 featuring gentle vocals and plucked strings in abundance.
Vocally, Kahn brings to mind a more laid-back Tori Amos, but it is the quality of the songwriting which really stands out on her debut album. She clearly likes reflecting on matters of the heart in her songs, which are for the most part sparsely arranged and performed.
Opening track Blame is the undoubted highlight, with the haunting White Lies and Long Gone underlining a talent which deserves to be rewarded with a global audience such as that Newsom already enjoys. This is certainly a highly promising start.
THREE STARS
Kim Mayo
Adele
25
"HELLO, it's me, I was wondering if after all these years, you'd like to meet..." sings Adele on Hello, the opening single from her third album.
The Oscar and Grammy-winning London singer, now 27, described the record as a "make-up album". 25 consists of 11 tracks, which are more upbeat than her previous lovelorn offerings, 21 and 19, particularly the reggae-tinged Send My Love (To Your New Lover), When We Were Young and Water Under The Bridge.
Perhaps it's the influence of motherhood and being in a blissful relationship. But you can't keep down the sultry Adele for long, and she makes a comeback in Remedy, Love In The Dark, Million Years Ago with its Spanish-style guitar accompaniment and the beautiful All I Ask, which packs a punch with Adele's stunning vocals. We've missed you, Adele – welcome back.
FOUR STARS
Shereen Low
Marry Waterson and David a Jaycock
Two Wolves
MARRY Waterson is a member of a famous Hull folk music family and, having previously recorded mostly with her brother Oliver Knight, now strikes out with Cornish instrumentalist David A Jaycock on a lovely new album.
She draws again on her family's influences, with her late uncle Mike's seminal recording of the traditional ballad Tam Lin featuring in Velvet Yeller while The Honey And The Seaweed draws on a lyric by her mother Lal.
Kami Thompson and Neill MacColl, themselves members of notable folk dynasties, appear, with the latter also producing on a strong set, the stand-outs of which are Emotional Vampire and the superb title track.
THREE STARS
Tom White
Natalie Merchant
Paradise Is There
US SONGWRITER Natalie Merchant recalled how Tigerlily was "the sound of terror at points, trepidation, fear and a little bit of liberation" in a 2013 interview. Yet her 1995 solo debut, following 12 years fronting 10,000 Maniacs, sold five million copies.
Paradise Is There is a 20-year anniversary retelling, named after a lyric in the opening track, San Andreas Fault. Tigerlily, with Merchant's dramatic piano and powerful contralto vocals, drew on grief, loves lost and yearned for. The title track preserves such intensity, with Merchant's voice having matured and the arrangements having naturally evolved.
Strings bolster several songs, notably the heart-tugging Beloved Wife, Merchant's telling of her grandparents' passing. Elsewhere, Wonder is stripped back to deeply soulful basics while Carnival begins with shuffling percussion and is transformed by classical guitar. Tigerlily remains the definitive Merchant album, yet this is a worthy, fascinating reconstruction.
FOUR STARS
John Skilbeck
Jeff Lynne's ELO
Alone In The Universe
ALTHOUGH this has been trumpeted as the first Electric Light Orchestra album in more than 15 years, it is, to all intents and purposes, a Jeff Lynne solo album.
Lynne has always worn his musical influences on his sleeve, a love of the Beatles even going as far as seeing him producing albums by the Travelling Wilburys, featuring ex-Beatle George Harrison and working on some of Harrison's solo albums.
ELO as a band no longer exist with classics such as Mr Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and The Diary Of Horace Wimp a distant memory. Alone In The Universe is by no means a bad album with the likes of When I Was A Boy, The Sun Will Shine On You and I'm Leaving You underlining Lynne's knack for a melody and his ability as a lyricist, but it lacks the pomp of ELO's glory days.
THREE STARS
Kim Mayo
