Larkin Poe – Self Made Man (Tricki-Woo
Records)
Release Date: Out Now
If, like me, you are yet to discover
the Lovell sisters, currently of Nashville, then strap yourself in for one hell
of a ride. Rebecca and Megan to their mum, Larkin Poe have come out fighting
with new album ‘Self Made Man’ and they kick off with the titular track, ‘She’s
a Self Made Man’ which shimmers and sneers in to life full of leather and
gasoline and it’s at this point we should make a statement; there are references.
At stages throughout this album you’ll hear elements of Royal Blood, Rews,
Ferris & Sylvester and the Black Keys but it is all fed through the Larkin
Poe filter and given a twist of special sauce so don’t let yourself be distracted.
The second track up, ‘Holy Ghost
Fire’, is one of those songs that becomes an instant favourite with laser
precision blues guitar licks and the dirtiest, gruffest bass line you’ll be
legally allowed to hear in 2020. Meanwhile, ‘Keep Diggin’’ maintains the blues
spirit and that bass doesn’t get any cleaner but there’s a country twang creeping
in that you would almost expect from these adopted daughters of Nashville. ‘Back
Down South’ fully embraces that deep south aesthetic and you can almost picture
the nodding donkeys in the oil fields while ‘Tears of Blue to Gold’ has a more
straight up Country vibe but there’s still a sting in the tail of this
rattlesnake and a twang in the vocal delivery that is hard to resist.
I’m a sucker for a hand-clap on a
track so as ‘God Moves On The Water’ gets going with this organic rhythm and
blues twang guitar I’m in heaven before the Gospel harmonies even start – it’s
a spiritual song without doubt. ‘Every Bird That Flies’ has a funereal sense to
it as the church organ is played with a sobriety rarely seen round these parts
but there’s a menacing sense of escape and mischief woven in between the notes
and beats throughout this one. The energy shifts up several gears on ‘Scorpion’
as we find ourselves high-tailing it out of town in a plume of dust as the
wheels spin and a scream is sent up for the kind of robo-western anthem that
Muse would be proud of.
On ‘Danger Angel’, the sisters embrace
the spirit of the bastard child of Bon Jovi and the Indigo Girls to create a
narrow eyed assassin of a song while the penultimate blast is ‘Ex-Con’, a
swaggering and twinkled eyed Country song that talks of love, loss, redemption
and whole lot of lap steel guitar. The album closes on the positively perky ‘Easy
Street’ which is only missing out dancing instructions being sung out from a
washboard player in a barn. There are elements of this collection which could
put it in contention for album of the year which is going to be a hotly
contested category in year when most artists have had more time than usual to
write and record. Thoroughly recommended.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/larkinpoe/