MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long

BSI
Sometimes Depressed… but Always Antifascist
(Tomatenplatten/Cargo)
⭑⭑⭑⭑
REYKJAVIKIANS Silla Thorarensen on drums and vocals and Julius Pollux Rothlaender on bass guitar and toe-synths are the duo BSI, whose debut album Sometimes Depressed… but Always Antifascist both intrigues and rewards.
Despite a nod and a wink to punk, musically their influences are drawn as much from Nordic ballads as skald traditions.
Thorarensen’s dreamy, crystalline voice defines the mood throughout as it ebbs and flows effortlessly, accompanied by its own subtle echos and minimalist instrumentation.

MICHAL BONCZA highly recommends a revelatory exhibition of work by the doyen of indigenous Australians’ art, Emily Kam Kngwarray

Despite an over-sentimental narrative, MICHAL BONCZA applauds an ambitious drama about the Chinese rescue of British POWs in WWII

Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet

New releases from Hannah Rose Platt, Kemp Harris, and Spear Of Destiny