A Silent Voice (2016)

Take the majesty of a symphony orchestra, add a 100-voice choir, stir in your favourite festive tunes and sprinkle over a large pinch of musical magic. The result? The very finest kind of Symphonic Christmas. Recorded live at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, and featuring conductor, arranger and pianist Bramwell Tovey, this is a truly delightful album that captures the Christmas spirit with an incredible range of music – from a tear-jerking and intimate I’ll Be Home for Christmas (with violin and piano), to the rousing chorus in God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen – with an expected twist!

Blessed with a beautiful voice from an early age, Sue Raney has performed music ranging from swinging jazz and ballads to cabaret, middle-of-the-road pop and jingles.

Acoustic Christmas is the new holiday album from Neil Diamond on Capitol Records. Set for release on October. 28 and followed Nov. 18 by a vinyl version, the holiday collection includes new material alongside Diamond's singular renditions of yuletide classics. Acoustic Christmas was produced by Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.) and Don Was (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), the pair behind Diamond's previous release, 2014 s Melody Road.

"It’s understandable that a jazz pianist might feel inclined, even obliged, to debut as a leader with a trio album. But Clockwork, the maiden voyage of Victor Gould, includes sextet arrangements, two pieces augmented with strings, and several percussion turns from Pedrito Martinez. There are piano trio showcases as well, but they are part of the mosaic, not the full picture. “I didn’t want to be locked in with instrumentation,” says Gould. “I’ve come to believe that the best orchestration is when you change instrumentation very often. So you could think of that in the scheme of one piece or a whole record.”

When Hannah's parents took her to a new school, they said it was to give her a new start. However, Hannah is 11, autistic, and due to her condition, unable to speak. She had a twin called Angel, but when Angel died, Hannah was forbidden to grieve by her abusive parents and punished when she sought comfort from her sister's things. Now Hannah lives locked inside a silent life of despair, which she fears will soon end at the hands of her parents. However, when a knife keeps appearing under her pillow, and a voice that she thinks is inside her head won't leave her alone, Hannah begins to realise that just maybe, she may have an ally not of this world, but fear paralyses her. Could it be Angel, who from the 'other side' has come to seek justice for all the abuse she has suffered? Can Hannah overcome her fear enough to let her in?

Donna Kaz was 24 years old when she moved to New York City in the fall of 1977 to pursue a career in theatre. She rented a spacious loft apartment on gritty Fifth Avenue in Chelsea and landed a job serving beers and burgers at the classic bar, Jimmy Day's, in Greenwich Village.

After an 8 year hiatus, Youth Lagoon return with their 4th album, 'Heaven Is a Junkyard'. Youth Lagoon - the beloved project of Trevor Powers - returns with the announcement of Heaven Is a Junkyard, his first new album in eight years, out June 9th on Fat Possum, and a new single/video, " Idaho Alien." With whispers of country, Heaven Is a Junkyard is mutant Americana in a world of love, drugs, storytelling, and miracles-held together by Powers' voice and an upright piano. In Powers' own words, " Heaven Is a Junkyard is about all of us. It's stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass."

…Silent Went the Sea is the next port of call for Eilean Records, a double disc album and DVD that gently lags. Using the portal of music, offthesky drags the listener through the looking glass and into this moment of stillness itself. The dregs of the sea float past on currents of cool, electronic tones. Joined by the strings of a sea breeze, the music encroaches and recedes. The creaking timber of the boats echoes through to the listener and congeals until it resembles the thick, coughing texture of the strings. Droplets of water overlap in an ever- changing geography drawn up by a mysterious cartographer.