Edge of Spring contains songs from five albums by Sally Doherty and her Sumacs, as well as two unreleased songs. It’s a lovingly assembled collection of songs from the last decade by the singer and musician from Sheffield.

During the more restless autumn days there is one cd which brings me in a state of calmness: Songs From Before, the new ‘post-classical’ creation of Max Richter. Its delicate music is comparable to his previous album The Blue Notebooks (2004), though with slightly sparser compositions.

Parce Pace is one of the manifestations of the the Crescens Collective, and in particular it’s a solo creation of Jan Carleklev. Just as I’m used to from related projects like Sanctum and Mago, Raumspannung is a very well produced album.

A lot of attention has been paid to the packaging of this record. The cd comes in a full color glossy booklet with extensive information on the music. Musically you could describe this release as chamber music or classic gothic inspired theatre music.

This Dutch act around Peter Savelkoul keeps on releasing material. The first description that comes to mind when hearing Seven Samurai is ‘cinematic’, and that’s no wonder being a re-interpretation of the score to Akira Kurosawa’s classic film of the same title.

Ashram’s debut album was a nice piece of work, so I was pleased to hear that this Italian trio has delivered a follow-up. Like before, the core of the band is formed by three musicians: Luigi Rubino (piano), Sergio Panarella (vocals) and Alfredo Notarloberti (violin).

Clair Obscur has always followed its own unconventional course. The French band was initiated in the wave/industrial scene of the early 80’s. Theatrical aspects play a clear role on “In Out”, an LP originally released around 1988.

Maja Elliott is a pianist, singer and composer. In recent years she often worked with Current 93. On the short cd “1000 Water Craters on the Sea” she follows an experimental ethereal/ambient approach.