The ties that bind

U.S. Girls ★★★★ Scratch It 4AD. CD/DL/LP ...

From the noisy streets, community cafés and surprisingly verdant cemeteries of Southeast London have risen CAROLINE : a confoundingly brilliant eight-piece band with no obvious frontperson, fusing choral folk with fractured post-rock and experimental pop. As Sam Richards discovers, they haven’t made life easy for themselves. “But there has to be a vulnerability of some sort. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Among the starlets of '60s soul, Stax original A THOMAS was dubbed 'The Queen'. Adored by The Beatles and Otis, a star turn at Vattstax, at 82 her flame burns bright, her career a storied object lesson. "I have tried to make it a joyful experience," she tells ANDREW PERRY.

Lea Kampmann, Teitur Lassen et al Stunt Records STUCD24092 It seems fitting that the small archipelago of the Faroe Islands, set in the chilly North Atlantic between Iceland and Scotland and now notor

MUM?” Becky said. “When did you know Dad was the man for you?” “What? Pretty early, I think,” Frances replied, taken aback. “It’s so far in the past, I can’t remember.” “It’s important. Try and think

Before The Future LOST SOUND TAPES/SELF-RELEASED 8/10