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Ben Ray

Traditional folk music at its experimental best

Ben Ray finds Miranda Sykes’ latest release reaches dizzying new heights

OxFolk reviews: ‘March Glas’ by Elfen

Ben Ray is entranced by Elfen's debut release, giving a small insight into the joys of the Welsh folk music scene

The Transports at Cecil Sharp House

Ben Ray is carried away by an epic tale of transportation told through folk music and stories

OxFolk reviews: ‘Here We Go 1, 2, 3’

“Here we go, 1, 2, 3, hold your hands out to me…” so opens this beautifully formed album ‘Here We Go 1, 2, 3’...

Were the Nazis on drugs?

The Nazi regime was permeated with drugs, from morphine to heroin, taken by almost everyone in the Reich, from soldiers to housewives. This shocking...

OxFolk reviews: ‘Cold Old Fire’

There aren’t many folk groups that can claim to have originated in an ‘experimental psychedelic folk punk duo’, but then again Lynched, the self-styled...

OxFolk reviews: ‘a bit of blue’

There is something irresistibly lovable about Emily Maguire’s voice – it seems to swell silence the world around it, putting everything out of focus...

OxFolk reviews: Life in a Paper Boat

Ben Ray finds surprises in well-renowned folk musician Kate Rusby's new album Life in a Paper Boat

OxFolk Reviews: ‘Vortex’

Ben Ray reviews Methera's new album 'Vortex', and is swept away by their live Corpus performance

Jon Boden at the O2: Painted Lady and other folk

Ben Ray discusses folk music legend Jon Boden's latest album Painted Lady and performance at the O2 Academy

OxFolk Reviews: Faustus – Death and other Animals

Ben Ray looks at the UK folk three-piece's latest release

OxFolk review: ‘The Ties that Bind’

Ben Ray looks at Mawkin's latest album, The Ties that Bind

OxFolk Reviews: ‘Cycle’

If I’m being honest, Lady Maisery’s new album ‘Cycle’ came as a surprise to me not because of it’s accomplishment and beauty, but because...

OxFolk Reviews: ‘Bird’s Nest’

It isn’t often that you come across instrumental music that is so beautiful that each track feels like brushstrokes in a piece of artwork....