Various - Sonic Blooms: UK Alt-Folk and New Roots Rising

The Guardian 60

(Folk & Honey)

This compilation of a score of up-and-coming Brit acts has plenty to commend it, but its adopted “alt-folk” tagline proves fanciful. Most tracks are by gentle singer-songwriters of conventional hue, while the wilder reaches of wyrd folk - encounters with shape-shifters on stormy moors – are almost entirely absent. There are some forceful characters on display nonetheless. Brooke Sharkey offers airy, Anglo-French chamber folk. Ferris and Sylvester combine dreamy pop with spiky sentiments on Save Yourself (alt Simon and Garfunkel perhaps) and seven-piece Mishaped Pearls bring a cinematic sweep to Six Dukes. A rewarding sampler of a vibrant live scene, and not-for-profit with it.