Blog Archive for October 2026

Album Of The Day: Northern Flicker by Taylor Leonhardt

Album Art of Taylor Leonhardt's Northern Flicker album - A picture of a field with brown grasses and other small plants, which stretches in rolling hills into the background. In the left background, a hill rises and is covered in in trees towards the top, and in the right background, there are more hills visible much further away. In the foreground is a young womany with long, dark hair, a red top and blue jeans on. She's facing toward the camera but running towards it so that most of her is just a blur of color while the background is well in-focus. Up in the clear, blue-gray sky is printed above the photo three off-white, dashed lines from right to left, a bit lower on the right than the left. In the top left, on the 2nd and 3rd line, it has printed in the same color the album title and below it the artist's name.

"When I'm going under / Headfirst in the deep dark well / Be my Stevie Wonder / Sing me to myself." Released just today, this is the third album by acoustic folk-pop singer-songwriter Taylor Leonhardt. I love how Taylor speaks so personally of her fears and doubts and still points back to faith and grace found in God as her centering point in songs like "Hosanna", "When The Scaffolds Fall", and many more. I do love new music and movies too, but I also identify with the song "Old Soul" as well in some respects. "Elegy" seems to memorialize a friend who passed away, and "Sightlines" talks about the comfort in knowing close friends/family are nearby. The songs throughout this album sound so great with an excellent folk/Americana flavor; Taylor's excellent melodies get stuck in my head for days. I find a lot of personal encouragement listening to these very honest, human songs from Taylor Leonhardt, and you may find the same thing too.

Release Year: 2026
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Album Of The Day
Music

Album Of The Day: The Circling Hour by Iona

Album Art of Iona's The Circling Hour album - A picture of the sky, with clouds towards the bottom and clear at the top. In the top, there's the moon in the top right and Aurora Borealis of various greens, pinks and purples throughout, with the colors filtering through the clouds below. The band's name is printed in red letters towards the top in the middle, with the album title printed in white, smaller lettering just below it.

Released 20 years ago tomorrow (or somewhere around that time), this is the sixth studio album by Celtic progressive rock band Iona. This band has a beautiful mix of traditional Celtic sounds mixed with rock stylings, and though this is not their best album in my opinion, it's still worth a listen. Joanne Hogg's lead vocals are so beautiful, and the band's instrumentation is just as beautiful. it opens with an epic 8-minute track "Empryean Dawn", which starts with just soft vocals but then keeps building into a full-on jam that defines the album. The final coda of the album, "Fragment Of A Fiery Sun", contains some of the same lyrics as the opening track as well. "Wind Off The Lake" is an 11-minute musical exploration and is one of the best on this album. And tracks 8-10 are a trilogy of songs: "Wind, Water & Fire", where the vocals, electric guitars and pipes soar along together in the end after some calmer melodies. It's certainly a musical journey spanning so many styles: from rock, to Celtic, to classical, and many more. This album might be a more rock than some of their previous albums, but I still love it. Iona is one of those bands I wish I had been able to see live, but I may never get that chance.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day
Music

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