Woo-hoo, the Shoogles are back, revived and restored with a new album and a summer of shows on the way. And lest you feel any eyes on the ball we call world have been dropped, this single is a timely reminder of what’s wrong with it. Politics aside, the attention, rightly, is on the side of the innocent.

With midterm members, Kaela Rowan and Eilidh Shaw bedding well in, adding vocals and replacing the otherwise irreplaceable fiddle of Angus R. Grant, respectively, Shoogle regulars, James Mackintosh (drums) and Malcolm Crosbie (guitar) are now joined by Dallahan’s Ciaran Ryan on banjo and the bass of Valtos/An Danssa Dub mainstay, Euan McLaughlin. That alone is exciting, but, as the song rings out, so the additional textures the new blood has brought can augur only well.

The track starts with a keen of vocalisation over some elegant synthscaping, the vocals double then multi-tracking. Percussion and picking follow in the format the Shoogles do best and, if little happens, it is nonetheless atmospheric, with fiddle and banjo slipping in and out. as shards of electronic maelstrom explode alongside.

Two remixes make up the B and C sides, from Howie B and DJ Dolphin Boy, to provide complement and contrast, the first with additional vocals from Bashar Murad, and is probably the most accessible of the 3 versions.

It’s getting on for a year since Prince Edward Island singer/songwriter Logan Richard released Character Traits, sharing his innermost contemplations on subjects as diverse as the formation and disintegration of relationships, family tragedy, self-evaluation and rotary card index devices.

To celebrate the anniversary of that release, Logan has decided to treat us to an upgrade. Character Traits (Deluxe) is scheduled for release on 22nd May and will offer a deeper look at the album, reframing key moments whilst introducing a few new tunes. Lead single, Yet to Let Me Down, is a sneak preview of one of the newbies.

“I wrote this song with my friend Isabella Samson,” says Logan. “I was a big fan of hers, and saw that she coming to PEI, so I reached out to see if she’d be interested in us writing together. We went out to the national park in Cavendish, sat by the trees, and wrote the song in a few hours. Bunnies were frolicking by, it was a scorching hot summer day, and we even got Cows ice cream when we finished. The song was recorded live off the floor in Charlottetown a few months later and it’s been sitting on my hard drive ever since. I am so excited it’s finally seeing the light of day.”

Yet to Let Me Down is one of Logan’s very best. Acoustic guitar and piano take the lead on a mild, gentle song. Logan’s voice is tender and intimate and the backing harmony vocals are just so. The percussion is light and simple, yet so very effective and the bass is plucked so softly that, in the best tradition of such things, its contribution is felt, rather than heard. Yet to Let Me Down is a fine portent for the forthcoming album.

Based on the Isle of Wight, Ben Allman is an indie-folk artist with a reputation for blending traditional instrumentation and atmospheric soundscapes with contemporary narratives. With Tideborn, his new 3-track EP, Ben explores themes of nature, change and the human condition, using poetic lyrics that will stand up to repeated scrutiny, backed by dreamy, quasi-psychedelic tunes.

The EP kicks off with A3055 (it’s the Isle of Wight’s southern coast road, in case you’re wondering). The sound of pouring rain is joined by a comforting 3/4 guitar and piano motif to accompany his oblique-yet-evocative lyrics. “Take me to the edge, look inside your head – there is nothing to fear, what remains is now clear. I’ll lead you to Freshwater,” he sings, in his deadpan voice – a voice sweetened by the harmony backing vocals.

The sound of breaking waves sets the scene for Blind Eye. Ben sticks with the dreamy psychedelic ambiance as he – and his female companion – turn their attention to the issue of sea pollution and our ability to ignore it. Once again, the backing is predominantly acoustic guitar and piano but, this time, there’s some tasty double bass activity going on, too. The influence of Nick Drake is clearly detectable in the tune and in lyrics like: “Blind eye: you turn the other way, to live another day.”

This short collection is wrapped up by the folky, absorbing, Landslide. It’s another song with an Isle of Wight setting, evinced by Ben’s references to coloured sands, chalk and clay. Deftly fingerpicked acoustic guitar provides the backing and Ben’s lyrics – that describe, apparently, an outcast’s redemption, are poetic and, at least on initial hearing, seemingly impenetrable. Repeated listenings will, no doubt, achieve clarity.

“I wanted Tideborn to reflect aspects of the island, but not in a literal sense,” says Ben. “It’s music for introspection and movement, a reminder that change is possible – environmentally, physically and emotionally.”

Fresh on the heels of their recent live release, Goblin Band waste no time in bringing some new to the attentions of the many ears now primed to listen. It is a further retro-creation of old, a version of the Nic Jones’ popularised ballad known also as The Drowned Lover.

Appropriately finger in ear vocals float over a dense drone of hardy-gurdy, melodeon and fiddle, whilst a snare drum taps. It is a gloriously rich concoction that sets further the band above the other new heralds of a tradfolk revival. With, oddly, an altogether sense of ceremony about it, that aspect might sit uneasily with the lyric, but actually imparts the feel of a mummers play, as it it were being acted out for an audience. Which is/was, I guess, the point of broadsheets. Win win, say I.

The flip contains Go From My Window, which isn’t, boo, the one at your own chosen speed, but rather the source possibly even originally plundered, and is a vocal a cappella showcase for the quartet.

With, as the picture shows, added Iain Matthews, this is an absolute delight, showing off the ever expanding range of styles the adopted Madrileños now have at their grasp. From forthcoming album, Still At The Music, it shows again the extent of their contact book, they never shy to co-opt others into their sound.

Iain Matthews, of course, has form with this Steve Young penned song, and this strays little, vocally, at least, from his 1973 version, if with a little more exuberance cantilevered in by the two Irishmen, the English one and the Yank. Starting with vocals alone, in five part harmony, a strummed guitar joins for the verses, ahead some slide guitar and banjo belting in for the climax. It knocks, frankly, the version by Eagles into touch. Ending with trumpet adding some ragtime exuberance, all is well with the world.

It is a cracker and we all need more of this. Bring on the album, boys!