"It's my first blog" "Don't worry, baby, I'll be gentle"

So it's Thursday night. I've worked incredibly hard at the job I hate, with people I hate in a building that I once loved but have now grown to hate. Fear not! Despite this boring and depressing day, I am not a miserable man. I have wonderful things in my life: the Lady (who is so amazing it makes my eyes want to fall out, in a good way), my guitars, music, great friends, books and films. I'll do my best to make this shit readable, lovely and perhaps even interesting, but I'm not making any promises. Right, introduction over...

Today's blog subject is *spins wheel titled "Monsieur La Gare's Big Wheel O' Bloggings"*... folk music. Loverly...

Recently there've been an awful lot of actually very good folk musicians and bands springing up, and in this man's opinion it's the best thing that's happened since it became acceptable for men to wear ladies' jeans. For me, the most promising young upstarts are Slow Club (not THE Slow Club, not ever), from Sheffield. I've been listening to them for about a year now, and debut effort Yeah So still sounds as fresh and twee as ever. Every one of Rebecca's soft sung syllables hangs perfectly over Charles' deceptively well played guitar, their voices intertwining in a way that seems much more real than other duets of the moment. They just sound like regular people, singing love songs to one another just for the hell of it. Magic. The Lady and I saw them on Tuesday, we were quite charmed, they forgot the words and were frankly incredible.

Listen to: "Sorry About The Doom", "Thighs", "There Is No Good Way To Say I'm Leaving You", and "I Was Unconscious It Was A Dream".

Also part of this nouvelle vague of folkies are Mumford & Sons, whose distinct brand of banjo driven balladry is currently bothering the upper echelons of the charts. The moustache-loving quartet have been on near constant rotation on my record player thanks to their gorgeously folktacular Sigh No More being one of the best things I've heard (to quote the Lady) since ever. The songs brim with poetry, the harmonies that permeate the whole album give a kind of Simon & Garfunkel-y feel to the proceedings, and the innovative use of the most bumpkinish of instruments never once feels laboured. Pure genius.

Listen to: "Little Lion Man", "Sigh No More", "Timshel", and "I Gave You All".

However, it's Sweden's contribution to the folk revival that really stands out. Okay, so by Sweden I mean First Aid Kit. They are, for want of a better word, incendiary. Sisters Johanna and Klara strip the genre back to it's most basic skeleton, and painstakingly reinvent it with the careful combination of the perennial acoustic guitar and either an autoharp (the unsung hero of the instrument world) or a swirly, hypnotic organ. They dress like Mama Cass, and are more adorable than a kitten in a sweater. If you hear them and don't love them instantly you should probably hang yourself, because if there's any justice they'll be bigger than the Beatles by the summer.

Listen to: "Our Own Pretty Ways", "Tangerine", "You're Not Coming Home Tonight", and "Little Moon".

Of course that's not the whole nu-folk thing. They're just a few that blow my mind. Emmy The Great, Laura Marling, Beth Jeans Houghton, Howard Eliott Payne, and Fleet Foxes (who rekindled my love of folk) all deserve a much bigger mention than I'll give them here. I'll leave for you to explore, you may or may not love them.

Listen to: Emmy The Great's "Absentee", Laura Marling's "Tap At My Window", Beth Jeans Houghton's "Lilyputt", Howard Eliott Payne's "Dangling Thread", and Fleet Foxes' "Meadowlarks".

I leave you with a video of Bob Dylan, without whom none of the aforementioned music would exist, and on whom I shall probably write several blogs in the near future. Peace and love to you all...