Lorik Toby Neighbors

Named Gramophone’s One to Watch and winner of the 2022 International Handel Singing Competition, Alexander Chance makes his recording debut on Linn. Drop not, mine eyes is a recital of English lute songs that soaks up the zeitgeist of the past couple of years to create a programme full of melancholic works by Dowland, Campion, Danyel, Purcell and others. If the ever-popular Dowland was readily prone to sadness, as exemplified by the pair I saw my lady weep and Flow , my tears, or indeed In darkness let me dwell, the polymath Thomas Campion favoured a more sober style, as shown in I care not for these ladies . Thomas Ford displays his more profane side here with Fair, sweet, cruel and What then is love . When it comes to melancholy, John Danyel’s Grief, keep within and Drop not, mine eyes are every bit as good as Dowland. The programme closes with Purcell, the other English Orpheus. Toby Carr provides sympathetic accompaniment on lute and theorbo.

Toby Driver is the driving force behind sonic experimenters Kayo Dot, and his colleague on this outing is musician, writer, and filmmaker Nick Hudson. They got together in February in New York for an outing to see Mr Bungle, and decided to make full use of their time by booking some studio time with engineer/producer Marc Urselli. Black Feather Under Your Tongue is the result on 90 minutes of recording, with a deliberate aim for spacious minimalism, all totally improvised. Efficiency at work, I think!

Five years isn't really a long time to generate 12 monster-size hits for a greatest-hits album, but that's exactly what Toby Keith did. From his first album in 1993 to the release of his first greatest-hits package in 1998, Keith has culled some of his best singles from the charts to create a 14-track ode. He includes only two newbies – the deliciously suggestive "Getcha Some" and the achingly troubled "If a Man Answers." Those are the first two tracks on the album, so you can get them out of the way quickly if you want to and move on to the music that makes Keith so good, starting with his very first single that went straight to number one, "Should've Been a Cowboy." And you'll kick your heels all the way through "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," "You Ain't Much Fun," "Who's That Man," and "He Ain't Worth Missing." It might be hard to recall at first that Keith had so many hit singles in the Top Ten, but with one listen, it'll be hard to forget.