John Paul Mason is a Scottish singer-songwriter whose debut album, Overstory, was released late last Autumn. Originally from Edinburgh, but now based in Comrie, Perthshire, Mason draws inspiration from the natural beauty of his surroundings, and the mountains, rivers, forests, and lochs that define his home.
As a breathwork therapist and trainer, Mason integrates his therapeutic work into his songwriting. His stated mission is to create music that seeks to heal, awaken, and inspire.
Influenced by artists like Spell Songs, Will Varley, Kris Drever, and Krishna Das, Mason’s sound is a blend of modern Scottish folk, spiritual resonance, and environmental activism. Using guitars, cello, and violin, his music weaves together poignant storytelling and a call to action, echoing the transformative power of nature and community.
His ten-track album, showcasing titles such as ‘Forest’, ‘Nightingale’, ‘Sweet Spirit’ and ‘Crows’, represents a beautiful interplay between folk and nature.
Writing in the sleeve-notes, John Paul Mason asks:“What would a life-affirming story look like? Perhaps if we listen, quietly, closely, by a stream or within a forest to those remaining wild things we share our world with, and to the whisperings of our own soul, nature might, just maybe, bring us back home.”
Alongside Mason on guitar and vocals are some stunning contributions from assorted guest musicians who provide bass, percussion, string arrangements and backing vocals, together with some lovely choral backing from the Earnsong Choir on the penultimate track, ‘Carry Me’.
With its enchanting melodies, powerful eco-themed story-telling and classy production, Overstory is a wonderfully uplifting debut album and John Paul Mason is an endearing performer with much to say.
Already with three albums under their belt, the popular East Anglian folk duo, Honey & The Bear, have just released a fourth. Featuring eleven original songs, A Wish & A Tide could well be their best album yet. Once more, the husband and wife team of Jon and Lucy Hart delve deep into Suffolk’s landscapes and legends for inspiration as well as exploring more personal themes of love, loss and resilience.
Lucy Hart: “This album has been 14 months in the making. At the start of 2025 Jon hit on a songwriting streak and decided it was time to start work on our fourth album… and here we are. A collection of songs with far-ranging inspiration. We feature a few myths and legends from our Suffolk home, as well as taking inspiration from nature around us and historic tales, but we’ve also taken a much more inward look with some poignant numbers that can only be written after experiencing something truly life altering. We hope you’ll find beauty in it … and maybe something you’ll find yourself connecting with.”
The song-writing is as thoughtful, perceptive and compelling as ever, the gentle melodies soar with some dazzling musicianship and the harmony vocals of Lucy and Jon are just sublime. Once again, the duo’s regular cast of supporting musicians, Toby Shaer (flutes, whistles and fiddle), Archie Churchill-Moss (accordion), Evan Carson (percussion and bodhran) and Graham Coe (cello), add some truly magical touches. A particular mention must go to Shaer’s flute-playing on tracks like ‘Close to the Edge’ which complements the duo’s vocals and melodies so perfectly, it’s almost starting to become part of their USP.
Honey & The Bear continue to impress, with every album even more of a delight than the previous one. A Wish & A Tide is no exception.
Balancing Act is the sixth album from Danish alt-rock outfit, Vinyl Floor. Built around the nucleus of multi-instrumentalist brothers, Charlie and Daniel Pederson, the duo handle most of the musical duties themselves but expand their sound with some carefully-chosen guest musicians. The emphasis is firmly on catchy melodies and vibrant musical textures, with an array of strings, horns and vintage-sounding keyboards enriching the basic guitar-drums-bass indie-rock template.
Vinyl Floor:“Balancing Act is about trying to balance life and searching for beauty and meaning in a world full of chaos, treason, insecurity and false promises. A world which itself currently seems out of balance.”
That’s a balancing act many of us are trying to pull off, of course, with varying degrees of success but I will say that here the scales very much tip towards the side of optimism. There’s a warmth about this album that undoubtedly puts one in a better mood for having listening to it.
Appearing alongside the Pederson brothers are the Swedish multi-instrumentalist Bebe Risenfors (whose CV includes work with Tom Waits and Elvis Costello) on horns and upright bass; Danish classical musician, Christian Ellegaard (who is a member of the national Danish Symphony Orchestra) on strings; and guitarist Daniel Hecht (of the Danish hard rock band, Franklin Zoo) who contributes additional guitar on a couple of tracks.
Intelligent indie rock with gorgeous sounds, lush harmonies and great hooks, Balancing Act grapples with contemporary angst with a firm nod to vintage pop-rock and in the process creates something that’s both satisfying and uplifting.
‘Trying Not To Breathe’ is the fourth single from the warmly-anticipated new album by London-based singer-songwriter, Little Lore aka Tricia Duffy. Inspired by the work of Tennessee Williams, the full album, Being Serafina, will be released in June this year and is named after the central character in Williams’ celebrated play from the 1950s, The Rose Tattoo.
Little Lore:“Being Serafina began as an academic experiment. I wanted to explore whether Method acting techniques could be used as a songwriting device. I signed up for Method acting classes and selected a monologue from a play I loved, The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams. I have been obsessed by Williams’ writing since I was a teenager. I loved and admired his ability to capture such rich female characters. My first song arrived, written from the perspective of the main protagonist in The Rose Tattoo, and so began an intimate love affair of my own with this beautiful, vulnerable, funny and flawed character, Serafina. I had a crazy notion that maybe I could go deeper into character and write an entire album from her perspective. Being Serafina is the result.The album draws on a wide range of genre influences from the folk Americana people know me for along with prog rock, punk and blues peppered into the creative process.”
A burgeoning presence on the UK Americana and singer-songwriter scene, Little Lore has received many plaudits, both for her astute, observational songwriting and for her warm, heartfelt vocals. Add into the mix the lush instrumentation and sumptuous production from her principal musical collaborator, Oli Deakin, and the result is nothing short of magical.
Discussing the new single, the prog-tinged ‘Trying Not To Breathe’, Little Lore explains:
“At this point in the original play by Tennessee Williams, Serafina is off-stage. A necessary device for the momentum of the story because it is here that the audience learns that Rosario, the love of her life, was having a long-term affair for more than a year before he died. The doctor tells her friends that she has lost her baby and is trying not to breathe. He has given her morphine and leaves the group with a syringe to administer more drugs if she tries to get out of bed. As this album is written purely from Serafina’s perspective, I decided that I needed to live her experience of devastated intoxication. The world knows that Rosario was unfaithful, but Serafina remains in the dark. Leaning on prog rock devices to offer the sensation of this drug induced state we hear her loss and confusion unfolding. There is a tension and a back and forth in this song as she goes in and out of her sedated state.”
Renowned New York-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, Oli Deakin,(who records under the name of Lowpines) produced the single and the forthcoming album and, as with previous Little lore releases, provides much of the instrumentation.
Written and performed by: Little Lore AKA Tricia Duffy
Produced by: Oli Deakin
Drums: Morgan Karabel
All other instruments: Oli Deakin
Artwork and Photography: Richard Cranefield
The Being Serafina project is inspired by the character of Serafina from The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams. Presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Tennessee, USA.
About Little Lore:
Little Lore is a London based, Indie-Americana singer-storyteller whose songs are both charmingly accessible and beguilingly challenging. You’ll want to listen twice. When you combine British wit and wordplay with cherished Americana roots, musical magic starts to happen. Based in Chiswick, West London, and originally hailing from Portsmouth, Tricia Duffy started her singing career as a teenager, which included a stint on cruise ships in the United States.
Tricia’s solo project Little Lore was created in 2020 during the pandemic. Her debut solo EP, Little Lore, was released in 2021 to glowing reviews. Two further EPs Seven Stories Part One and Seven Stories Part Two were released in late 2023 and early 2024, followed by the EP River Stories in April 2025. Little Lore has become a force to be reckoned with on the UK Americana scene, picking up a slew of enthusiastic reviews and extensive radio airplay – including BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster, Nashville Worldwide Country Radio and the International Americana Music Show. In her songs, Little Lore brings together an affection for the heart and heritage of Americana music, with an intelligence and maturity of storytelling that can sweep you away into new and unexpected emotional worlds.
An enthusiastic advocate for songwriters, she is the UK Chapter Coordinator for NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International), and a member of Ivors Academy and the Americana Music Association UK. She is especially passionate about creating opportunities for female, transgender and non-binary songwriters.
Melanie Crew & Ross Palmer are a South London-based duo. Their personal partnership also became a musical one when Crew turned her hand to songwriting and started performing them live. Palmer, already a songwriter himself and a veteran of the folk and roots scene, began sitting in on live performances, contributing guitar and occasional harmonies and before they knew it, a duo was born. Following an EP and a well-received debut album, Quiet After Midnight, the pair released their second album, Some Other Stories, at the end of 2025.
Drawing on influences from Fairport Convention to Elliott Smith, many of the songs reflect highly personal themes such as the beautifully melancholic ‘Look Back on Before’ which was released as a single.
Melanie Crew & Ross Palmer:“The songs contemplate the connections we make with each other and what happens when those connections break down. They examine the people we are and how we become those people. They look at the past with a kind eye and to the future with cautious optimism.”
The pair split songwriting duties just as they split lead vocal duties but as with all the best duos they are very much more than the sum of their parts and complement one another to perfection. The pair are also ably accompanied by Adam Beattie and Colin Somervell on double bass, Basia Bartz on violin, Nick Frater on piano and Hammond organ, and Ben Handysides on cello. Palmer’s bandmates, Yo Zushi and Russell Parton, from his other project Great days of Sail also feature in the choral parts on ‘Our Captain Cried All Hands’, the album’s one traditional ballad and another definite highlight.
Certainly a duo to watch and an album well worth checking out.
Missouri-born, Valerie Smith is a renowned Americana, roots and bluegrass singer who has been recording and performing since the late ‘90s. Her latest project, Maggie’s Journal, is an ambitious double-disc album which has been twelve years in the making, inspired by the journals of her late grandmother, Margaret. Decades after Margaret’s death, a journal was discovered in a trunk in the attic by Smith’s cousins, giving a raw and powerful first-hand account of life in late-nineteenth century rural Missouri. Detailing a brutal existence marred by poverty, domestic violence, infant mortality, spousal addiction and endless betrayal, Little House on the Prairie this is not.
Valerie Smith: “Her story was surprising for many reasons; she had told no one of her younger years. We found out that she had been married at a very early age to a violent man, and we also learned that under her hardened exterior was a beautiful, kind, and gentle soul. She has a story to tell and her words are very personal, emotional, and raw. To me, her story is a masterpiece about life was like on the Missouri farms after the Civil War. This project took me 12 years to create because I literally felt that I was writing music with my great-grandmother, Maggie, whom I had never met.”
Featuring a mixture of original song compositions and spoken-word readings over musical accompaniment across it’s thirty tracks, Maggie’s Journal, is an enormously powerful tale of hardship, endurance and resilience but ultimately one of independence, love and fulfilment. Smith is a powerful storyteller and while the words do not always make for comfortable listening, it’s an absolutely gripping album that’s beautifully performed.
Pareidolls, a five-piece teenage band from the Wirral, have released their debut single ‘Jessie’. Backed by B-side ‘Give & Take’, it’s being made available digitally and as a limited-edition physical 7-inch via Red Licorice Records.
Blending sharp-edged rock with melodic new wave influences, Pareidolls have quickly built a reputation for songs that balance attitude with pop sensibility. ‘Jessie’ captures the band’s driving energy and hook-laden songwriting, while ‘Give & Take’ showcases a darker, more urgent side of their sound.
Pareidolls are Georgia Attwood (vocals), Freya Wilcox (drums), Bethan Sheldrick (bass), Tabitha Law (guitar) and Biba Russell (guitar). Their sound and style recall the golden age of female-fronted rock bands, drawing comparisons to acts such as The Go-Go’s, The Bangles and L7, while remaining firmly rooted in the present.
Photo credit: Robert Russell
Drummer, Freya Wilcox, says: ‘We’re ecstatic to be able to share Jessie with this release; it encapsulates a lot about who we are musically and we hope it makes people happy!’
Newly established on the Merseyside music scene, the band regularly perform at Liverpool venues including EBGBS, Zanzibar and the O2 Academy. They have already supported notable artists such as The Lounge Society, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), XGENERATIONX (featuring Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet) and the late Clem Burke of Blondie.
The release of ‘Jessie’ marks an important milestone for Pareidolls, representing their first physical single and the start of their collaboration with Red Licorice Records.
Photo credit: Robert Russell
‘Jessie’ Released: 2 April 2026
Live dates:
London Launch Gig: Water Rats – 2 April 2026 – Tickets
Liverpool Launch Gig: Heebies Tunnel – 5 April 2026 – Tickets
‘Don’t Speak’ is the third single from the warmly-anticipated new album by London-based singer-songwriter, Little Lore aka Tricia Duffy. Inspired by the work of Tennessee Williams, the full album, Being Serafina, will be released in June this year and is named after the central character in Williams’ celebrated play from the 1950s, The Rose Tattoo. ‘Don’t Speak’ is released on 26th March, to coincide with the 115th anniversary of Williams’ birth.
Little Lore:“Being Serafina began as an academic experiment. I wanted to explore whether Method acting techniques could be used as a songwriting device. I signed up for Method acting classes and selected a monologue from a play I loved, The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams. I have been obsessed by Williams’ writing since I was a teenager. I loved and admired his ability to capture such rich female characters. My first song arrived, written from the perspective of the main protagonist in The Rose Tattoo, and so began an intimate love affair of my own with this beautiful, vulnerable, funny and flawed character, Serafina. I had a crazy notion that maybe I could go deeper into character and write an entire album from her perspective. Being Serafina is the result.The album draws on a wide range of genre influences from the folk Americana people know me for along with prog rock, punk and blues peppered into the creative process.”
A burgeoning presence on the UK Americana and singer-songwriter scene, Little Lore has received many plaudits, both for her astute, observational songwriting and for her warm, heartfelt vocals. Add into the mix the lush instrumentation and sumptuous production from her principal musical collaborator, Oli Deakin, and the result is nothing short of magical.
Discussing the new single, ‘Don’t Speak’, Little Lore explains:
“It is dawn and we find Serafina at her sewing machine, waiting. The table is still laid, but the food untouched. Her husband hasn’t come home. Outside she hears the low tones of the women in her community and the priest discussing how to tell her the news. Rosario is dead. Written as a real time unfolding of events, shock and denial are the primary emotions of this song. The devastating moment she learns that her husband has died but tries to hold back the knowing.”
“Written in a deliberately high key – to offer the sensation of that high pitched quality we sometimes get in our voices when we are trying to deny something. The sparse music is uncomfortably dissonant with an off-key drone in the mix to give that sensation of the blood rushing in our ears as she experiences the shock. This was a harrowing song to write. Using the method acting techniques which includes the use emotional substitutions, I allowed myself to access the most significant and devastating losses of my life. I cried throughout the entire writing process. It was an emotional song to record.”
Renowned New York-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, Oli Deakin, (who records under the name of Lowpines) produced the single and the forthcoming album and, as with previous Little lore releases, provides much of the instrumentation.
Written and performed by: Little Lore AKA Tricia Duffy
Produced by: Oli Deakin
Drums: Morgan Karabel
All other instruments: Oli Deakin
Artwork: Richard Cranefield
About Little Lore:
Little Lore is a London based, Indie-Americana singer-storyteller whose songs are both charmingly accessible and beguilingly challenging. You’ll want to listen twice. When you combine British wit and wordplay with cherished Americana roots, musical magic starts to happen. Based in Chiswick, West London, and originally hailing from Portsmouth, Tricia Duffy started her singing career as a teenager, which included a stint on cruise ships in the United States.
Tricia’s solo project Little Lore was created in 2020 during the pandemic. Her debut solo EP, Little Lore, was released in 2021 to glowing reviews. Two further EPs Seven Stories Part One and Seven Stories Part Two were released in late 2023 and early 2024, followed by the EP River Stories in April 2025. Little Lore has become a force to be reckoned with on the UK Americana scene, picking up a slew of enthusiastic reviews and extensive radio airplay – including BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster, Nashville Worldwide Country Radio and the International Americana Music Show. In her songs, Little Lore brings together an affection for the heart and heritage of Americana music, with an intelligence and maturity of storytelling that can sweep you away into new and unexpected emotional worlds.
An enthusiastic advocate for songwriters, she is the UK Chapter Coordinator for NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International), and a member of Ivors Academy and the Americana Music Association UK. She is especially passionate about creating opportunities for female, transgender and non-binary songwriters.
A singer and guitarist who’s been making waves on the folk scene in recent years, Cumbria-born Holly Clarke has performed alongside the likes of Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Daoiri Farrell and Queer Folk. Appearing at festivals and venues such as, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Bromyard Folk Festival, Tiree Music Festival and The Glasshouse International Centre For Music, between 2019 and 2020 she was Artist in Residence at the latter, specialising in Traditional Folk Song and Ballads.
As well as performing solo, Holly has a duo with George Sansome (Granny’s Attic), The powerhouse band RE:VULVA (Amy Thatcher, Janice Burns, Cathy Geldard) and she also gigs with the trio, Holly and the Reivers, reviewed here back in 2024.
Wild Feral Fierce is Clarke’s debut solo album. Across ten tracks which mix interpretations of traditional ballads with original material, it’s an album that’s deeply rooted in folklore, myth and metaphor.
Holly Clarke: “The tracks on this record summon visions of the macabre, the supernatural and iconic figures from folklore and myth. This album is an unearthing of themes that aren’t just found lying dormant in the furrows of the land, they are alive and more relevant than ever.”
Traditional songs include beautifully atmospheric interpretations of well-known classics like ‘The Spectral Stag’ and ‘John Barleycorn’. However, like the late, great Bob Johnson of Steeleye Span, who had a similar fascination with such other-worldly themes, Clarke doesn’t just look to the British Isles for inspiration but also delves deep into the folk myths from Scandinavia where they’ve long excelled at this stuff over many centuries. ‘The Maiden Hind’, a classic Danish shapeshifting ballad, and ‘Sir Aage and Lady Elselil’, which has its roots in old Norse texts are two such tracks on this album.
Alongside her passion for adapting traditional ballads, Clarke is also a talented songwriter. The self-composed title track of the album, is a song where shape-changing is a metaphor for the joy that comes from self-acceptance and positive transformation.
Joining Clarke on the album is a core band featuring Anna Hughes (of Salthouse & Watersmeet) and fiddle and viola; Amy Thatcher (of Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening & The Shee) on accordion and synth; and John Pope (of Archipelago & MeLostMe) on double bass. The album also features a guest appearance from Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes.
Haunting and ethereal, with compelling storytelling and captivating vocals, Wild Feral Fierce is a wonderful slice of trad. arr. inspired folklore.
While someone banging out some half-decent AC/DC or Stones covers will invariably bring a smile to my face, when it comes to Pink Floyd you’ve either got to get the sound bang on or else it’s simply not worth bothering. And while I was never lucky enough to see the original Pink Floyd, I’ve seen a few Pink Floyd tributes over the years, from the internationally-renowned (Australian Pink Floyd) to the downright dodgy (remaining nameless to spare blushes).
Formed in 2014 and hailed as one of the UK’s leading Pink Floyd tribute acts, proudly proclaiming their commitment to authenticity, I had high hopes for On Thin Ice and was not disappointed.
Performing three sets that delved into songs from across the band’s career, the first set began with a convincing selection of classics from the Syd Barrett-era Floyd, followed by a couple of tracks from Meddle before moving on to a mammoth rendition of songs from Dark Side of the Moon. It was all done in QUAD sound, too, with four channels of sound filling the room, echoing the original Pink Floyd tours of the late ‘60s and ’70s and ensuring maximum sonic impact in terms of those memorable special effects on albums like Dark Side.
Mish B, one of two female backing vocalists, did an absolutely incredible job taking on the lead vocal for ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ and received rapturous applause for her own take on that stunning, other-worldly performance which session singer, Clare Tory, will always be best remembered for (Tory’s second most memorable performance being the theme song for BBC’s Butterflies, for all you trivia fans out there.)
After a short break, we are into the second set, which is a celebration of the Wish You Were Here album that is every bit as good as their exploration of the Dark Side of the Moon, before ending in an epic performance of ‘Sheep’ from Animals. It’s great to see Hastings’ Blackbox back on the circuit. As a gig venue it pretty much does what it says on the tin, a long oblong box painted completely black with the stage at the front and the bar at the back. The sound is great, the guitars, keyboards, sax and vocals are mind-blowingly authentic and in a venue like this you can half close your eyes and mentally transport yourself to some huge stadium somewhere seeing the real thing.
After another short break the third and final set, focuses on the band’s later studio albums with a couple of tracks from The Wall, and a track apiece from the post-Roger Waters albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, before drawing proceedings to a close with a stunning rendition of ‘Comfortably Numb’.
The guys (and gals) do put every ounce of effort into making themselves sound as close to Pink Floyd as humanly possible so if you are looking for a night of Pink Floyd classics in a live setting, On Thin Ice are absolutely worth checking out.
Darren's music blog 