“Sometimes the most powerful songs are the ones that allow the truth to speak for itself.”
Folk Kitchen is Franc Cinelli’s collection of folk, blues and Americana, again very much a product of simplicity, straightforward performances and attention to detail. Released 6th July 2026 on Song Circle Records, it’s a nine track album which deals with memory, change, resilience and the quest for some kind of forward movement. It’s not a production heavy record at all, the songs are the focus and it’s Cinelli’s voice, his guitar and his songwriting that are doing the work.
The album started with the opening riff of ‘Body & Mind’ which came to Cinelli one afternoon in a completely unanticipated way and that in itself set off a whole creative process. He wrote and recorded the record in two weeks, with the strict rule being one guitar per song and vocals and guitar recorded together as much as possible. The result is a very intimate record. The performances are left as they are, with all their imperfections, their spontaneity and their odd little moments rather than being painstakingly polished until all of that original character is gone. It’s an approach which puts you right in the middle of the process and makes the songs feel very personal and immediate. Fingerstyle acoustic and resonator slide form the backbone of the album throughout. There’s a real range of feel on show, from very sparse songwriting to more atmospheric passages, and it’s a demonstration of just how much you can do with a very pared down arrangement. “Empires” is described as an ambient folk piece and that really opens up a different dimension of Cinelli’s sound, proving that simplicity doesn’t necessarily mean you’re confined to one musical world. The nine track album also contains “Mudlarking”, “Starting Over”, “Follow Your Star”, “Gone”, “Road Not Taken”, “Let This Time Be Kind” and “Waves”. The titles taken as a whole point to various ways of looking at change, decisions and the experience of life, and the stated themes of the album give the collection a very clear emotional underpinning.
What’s so interesting about Folk Kitchen is that Cinelli is quite deliberately building on the folk and blues traditions rather than just recreating them. His influences are the springboard from which he launches into his own experiences and his own take on things. The arrangements are kept very open so that each performance space can breathe and the record is very much about feeling rather than about any kind of excess. His experience in acoustic songwriting, ambient music and contemporary classical music also informs the way the record moves from the intimate song to the more expansive textures. Originally from Rome and now based in London, Cinelli has spent over 20 years writing, recording and performing. Folk Kitchen is really about the song, about being honest in the performance and knowing when to stop. It’s available digitally and on a very limited run of vinyl. It’s a very thoughtful little collection of songs for those who like roots music with a personal touch. It’s a case of a very simple arrangement saying a lot if you give it the space to do so.
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