Do you pronounce that Thoss? Toss? Thomas?  I think it might be Thomas actually, because as far as I am aware Thos is just a written short form; not that I’d know.  Bleh.  Anyway, if you’re still digging the slightly twee folk-pop then we have another fine four track helping for you here.

Mosaic Bone Norse Flute (what?) is a Tape Club Records EP whose pastoral gentleness is captured perfectly by the leafy front cover of the record.  It’s not all wood fairies and so on, however, because despite a lot of the slightly hippy cutesiness there are healthy pop sensibilities to his songwriting that belie what looks like a rather deliberately hapless demeanour.

Imagine if Noah & the Whale were less jaunty and empty, and you might be here or hereabouts.  In some ways he’s captured some of the slightly sinister nature of old folk stories, too.  The music is lovely and delicate, but there is not unusually a slightly darker undertone to it, never more obviously than with the deep vocal backing and uneasy violin that make Summer on the Thames such a good song.

So don’t be fooled by its harmless front, there’s a little more to this than you might think from first impressions.  I was slightly underwhelmed to begin with, but the more I’ve listened to it the more I find myself coming round.  Definitely recommended.

Thos Henley – Summer on the Thames

Buy from his MySpace page.

Yes, it’s that time of the week once more. I am off to do my slot on Fresh Air, the Edinburgh student radio station, who have kindly granted me a slot to blether on about all things musical which exercise my mind. I’ll then swing by the pub on my way home to catch the tail end of their meeting and say hello to everyone, before going back to the house to do some desperately needed cleaning.

Neil from Meursault was round the other night to get all the artwork sorted for the official release of the Meursault record (which will be at the Toad Christmas Party, with any luck) and it honestly looked like the worst student flat you’ve ever been in. Mrs. Toad was tense for about three seconds before looking around and deciding that the situation was hopeless. We need a cleaning lady. Not just for the cleaning, but because it will force us to keep the place in some semblance of sensible order for the week.

What has that to do with radio? Well nothing at all really, just rambling. So yes, go to freshair.org.uk and click on the big ‘listen live’ button on the left hand side to hear what your friendly neighbourhood gin-based life-form sounds like in the absence of the three-quarters of his vocabulary which has been deemed unfit for public consumption. It’ll be fun – I have some great new stuff to play this week which has yet to feature on the site so there’s plenty in it for you. And here are a couple of songs to whet your appetite:

Elvis Perkins – All the Night Without Love
Thos Henley – The Wife