All catarrh vocals, clipped licks and voluminous Afro, Selwyn Birchwood’s 2014 debut Don’t Call No Ambulance made him the jewel in Alligator’s youth roster. Pick Your Poison won’t do him any harm either. The writing is versatile and tight, from the gospel of Even The Saved Need Saving to the self-arranged title track – and the lyrics always convince, whether he’s riffing on murdered black teenagers or drunk texting.
Selwyn Birchwood - Pick Your Poison album review
The best Blues you can get this month

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
More about classic rock
“You see people behaving properly and think: ‘I’d like to be part of the blowing of the whistle – even if it’s only writing a poem or a song or whatever”: Roger Waters changed tone, but not topic, on Is This The Life We Really Want?
"It's no longer about how talented you might be, but how good at social media you are": Rosalie Cunningham on breaking through in a shallow scene