8/10
On its second outing, the Folklore Records compilation series feels less like a follow-up and more like a widening horizon. Where Volume 1 established the Brighton-born project as a platform for raw, resonant songwriting, Volume 2 leans into a broader palette—drawing together four artists whose voices circle the edges of folk, indie, and experimental soundscapes.
The record opens with Nierra Creek’s ‘Burn Out The Fire’ a widescreen swell of lo-fi electronica and tender indie-folk textures that feels both expansive and bruised. The duo balance grit with intimacy, their sound landing somewhere between late-night reflection and stadium-sized catharsis.
Quaking Aspens shift the mood inward with ‘Flume’, a haze of shoegaze-tinted psychedelia that unfolds with patience and restraint. Its atmosphere is heavy with unspoken emotion, lingering like smoke in the air.
From there, Adam Spry strips things back to something raw and tactile. ‘Tangled’ is all hushed vulnerability and lo-fi edges, a track that feels recorded as much for himself as for anyone listening. It’s quietly disarming, a reminder that imperfection often carries its own kind of clarity.
Closing the set, Mezanmi’s ‘This Time Yesterday’offers the EP’s most cinematic moment. Starting with fragile minimalism before blooming into something grand and consuming, it leaves the listener suspended in that liminal space between heartbreak and transcendence.
Taken together, ‘Folklore Volume 2’ is less a collection of singles than a shared atmosphere—each track an echo of solitude, longing, or release. It shows Folklore not just as a community, but as a curatorial voice: one tuned toward intimacy, honesty, and the kind of songs that feel lived-in.
Stream the collection below
