Stornoway

as soon as those first notes hit, we were catapulted 13 years into the past, to a time of hope, folk, and whimsy - and there are few records from that era that capture that feeling quite as well as stornoway’s ‘beachcombers windowsill’; a record that got a lot of resident shop stereo time back then.

As its title suggests, Stornoway’s 2010 debut album, ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles ‘Fuel Up’, ‘I Saw You Blink’ and ‘Zorbing’, it showed just why so many were excited by the Oxford indie-folk quartet’s arrival - a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folk tradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at most instruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared. if you missed out the first time round, now’s your chance to right that wrong and - if this is your first time hearing them - then you, my friend, are in for quite a treat. ffo: johnny flynn / villagers / noah & the whale / dry the river / fleet foxes / the leisure society / the shins