Peter Ostroushko: Sacred Heart (Red House Records)
This is a beautifully crafted instrumental record, the last in a trilogy of which "the common thread is one of pictures or snapshots of a journey". These snapshots, however, are not visual images but pictures conjured up by sound. It is an ambitious concept, but one which this American violinist and mandolin player masters with an ease which belies the complexity of his mission. There are furious reels such as the opening Boston and the closing Madison, moody emotional tunes such as Puckett's Farewell and flying Ukrainian dances such as Slobada. It is all a delight, and Ostroushko is brilliantly supported by an adept and enthusiastic bunch of fine musicians who help stretch and mould his lively tunes into vivid pictures. Certainly it whets the appetite for the preceding two albums: Heart of the Heartland and Pilgrims on the Heart Road.
Tom McRae: Tom McRae (DB Records)
Tom McRae chooses to revert to quaint old terms such as side one and side two for his much-touted debut, but it is hard to discern any difference in his unrelentingly gloomy world-view. Certainly, this most English of singer-songwriters - the son of two vicars - is practically consumed by a monochrome sense of miserabilism; any jokes here are profoundly black. Yet his savage line in retribution and his earnest and colourful descriptions of a young life in crisis have an attractively unsettling intensity to them. Perhaps the melodies could be more inviting - as, say, with Elliot Smith, - and the arrangements more inventive, but as first steps go, this is a very strong debut, particularly songs such as end of the world (dose me up), one more mile, hidden camera show and sao paulo rain. Watch this space.