David Ward Maclean / Acts of Faith @ Talk Magazine

To those who dont know him, David Ward Maclean is the Scottish guy with the long hair and shades who you may have seen busking in Yorks streets. Youve probably walked past him chomping your hurriedly-bought-and-hastily-munched butty and not batted an eyelid or turned your ear. Well more fool you, because just as there is so much more behind the initial impression with appearance, Mr Ward Macleans musical output follows suit.

On Acts Of Faith we have a collection of songs which are simply presented but you need to look a bit further to get the whole picture. All dressed up in exquisite finger picking and a smooth-as-honey vocal, yet suck it and see for a bit longer and you find the inside sometimes might not be so sweet. And this is good, its not predictable or rammed down your throat. These tracks dont so much as grow on you as lodge in you and barbs of strong melody and meaningful lyric refuse to move. Stubborn maybe, but Ive enjoyed having them there.

This is a selection of the 40 or so songs David has recently written and recorded and are destined to be arranged and released in another form, but this is no way to be misinterpreted as a work in progress. This is an end in itself with outstanding sound quality. Pure 6 and 12 string guitar and voice combined to make an excellent product which moves well; bringing to mind the open-tuned melancholic Nick Drake, the major keyed philosophy of Donovan, the earnestness of John Denvers less commercial work, the syncopated slap/picking style of John Martyn and always the vocal warmth and gentleness of Dougie Maclean.

If you love acoustics you will love this. Its listening stuff. Thinking stuff. Cathartic stuff. For sure, the man can write a mean tune and he has a cracking voice which comes over well on the album and considering the album is a live recording, you bet he can play and perform. So Im looking forward to the album launch gig at The City Screen on March 11th.”

Talk Magazine, York

Matthew McAllister / Merula @ Tokafi.com

It has almost become a general consensus that classical and contemporary repertoire need to be treated fundamentally different. “Merula”, however, works exactly because it defies the dogma. For his debut album, Matthew McAllister has taken the liberty of showing his abilties within the most diverse contexts, of organising a time-travel package through the ages and of recording his own interpretations of “a choice selection of classic guitar repertoire, alongside newer styles of contemporary guitar music.”

Agnew & McAllister / Recital @ Classical Guitar

The Agnew/McAllister duo once again show their talents as arrangers in a superb presentation of the Fantasie from “Carmen” where Aisling Agnew displays her highly polished, fluid technique to its best advantage … Throughout this recording the duo handles all the technical and musical requirements with aplomb and have produced a most alluring disc.

Agnew & McAllister / Recital @ Tokafi.com

If you can’t catch this duo live, then “Recital” is the next best thing … a work which lures you into loving it by its unintrusive nature … it is vivid and full of the pleasure of being alive