The renowned guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson releases Still, an album of new music produced by Jeff Tweedy.

Core to Still’s emotional resonance is a set of new Thompson compositions rich with his signature mix of trenchant insight, gallows humour, and keen empathy for characters at the brink of being overcome by their emotions, their pasts, or themselves.

The album contains 12 songs (50 mins, 57 sec) and if you're unfamiliar with Thompson then his voice will take a bit of getting used to. He's not the most pitch perfect artist, but it's the content rather than the delivery that's important here. It's certainly nowhere near as bad on last year's (2014) Acoustic Classics.

Part rock, part folk, Still is an interesting album with a little something for everyone. Fans of Thompson will want to snap this up... only problem is trying to work out which of the numerous editions to buy. Should you go for the twelve-track CD, the twelve-track double 180-gram vinyl album or the deluxe CD package that includes a five-song EP from a previously un-released session?

7

Nick Smithson