LARKIN GRIMM

Definitely give this album a listen if you like the more odd side of folk music and want something a little different, also you must try her other albums as they are all solid, try "Parplar" next however, that one is one of my favourite albums ever.

Yes , Larkin has now completely integrated the Wyrd movement , but it doesn't really mean that her music is progressive. Her eclectiism provide a certain array of musical soundscapes where her electronics effects and "birds samples" from her debut album are still around on Parplar as well as the intimate climate ala Beth Gibbons & Rustin" Man, such as on the opening They Were Wrong

Other tracks like Ride That Cyclone drip from Tunng essence, while Blonde And Golden Johns mix the two afore-mentioned realms without much effort. Other tracks like Dominican Rum share very strange lyrics ((I am swallering more estrogens so you won't impregnate me) with semi-Comus-like vocals, but without the wickedness, yet it's clear Larkin also listened to them. Most of the rest of the tracks are within the given often-spooky boundaries, except maybe for Bluegrass/Cajun-ey Fall On Your Knees

Let's not get carried away and recommend Grimm's records to fans of RIO Zeulh fanatics, neo progmetalheads are not likely to appreciate her works as well, but if you're into weird and whacky worlds and eclectic pastoral ambiances and you like Long Live Death, Faun Fables, or Tunng. Hardlyb essential, but worthy of an investigation.

Larkin's debut album is a real quiet affair, mostly her and her guitar with a bunch of effects, sound collage between and during songs. Grimm is a credible folk songwriter or even a folk singer that is not looking for success the way the other two Amerindians (listed above) are. Wyrd Folk often includes so lo-fi artiste, but in Grimm's case, I think it is more a problem of not having a producer guiding her into a better and fuller album. Although her music is also very inconsistent, there is not one track that stands out from the rest of the album and while most songs do sound a bit alike (as well as sounding flat), it's also mainly due to a lack of musical dynamics in the production of the sisc.

While Harpoon depicts a story of fisher up in the polar circle, it appears that she was a tad too ambitious in trying that stunt directly off the bat. Her acid folk is not devoid of quality and her future albums will be of greater interest, but this first shot is best avoided or forgotten, although predictably in another two decade, many music snobs will hail this as a pure gem of the all-too forgotten noughties (read 00's).

Grimm seems to have found just a little bit of restraint on this record, shifting from the chaotic and often haphazard experimentation that characterized her first album, to something that is much more approachable yet still on the fringes of what passes for art-tinged folk music. Her Appalachian background is more pronounced here, with several tracks (“I Killed Someone, Part 2”, “Link in your Chain”, “Rocky Top”) having a distinct hillbilly-cum-bluegrass feel to them despite her otherwordly vocals and occasional shrieks. Imagine Laurie Anderson teaming with Alison Krauss in a moonshine- oiled jamfest and you’ll have a sense of what large portions of this album sound like.

Elsewhere Grimm comes off as almost normal, blending acoustic guitar and plaintive chanting vocals with eclectic percussion and lots of whistling, most notably on “No Moonlight”, “The Most Excruciating Vibe” and the closing number “The Waterfall”.

Her singer-songwriter persona comes out strong on the lengthy (ten-minute plus) “Little Weeper”, a rambling vocally-intense number with plenty of ranging guitar work that is otherwise almost devoid of sound effects or percussion. This is one of the more staid compositions I’ve ever heard from her, and one I can picture her plucking out on a barstool in front of weak backlighting in a coffeehouse somewhere along the Eastern seaboard. A pleasant number that would almost make one think she has spun a few Pentangle albums somewhere in her colorful past.

This is a decent album, worth listening to mostly because it shows some definite progression in Larkin’s musical sensibilities and a growing sense of comfort in front of the microphone as well as with composition. This fits quite well stylistically between her odd debut “Harpoon” and her most recent offering “Parplar”, in which she makes quantam leaps toward solidifying the quality and depth of her music. I’ll go with three stars this time around, and save the true praise for ‘Parplar’. Recommended for wyrd-folk and experimental indie fans.

peace

But the inconsistent part I think comes from being a bit self-indulgent at times, which again is something that certainly isn’t novel where most true artists and musicians are concerned. On her first album, Grimm gives us a glimpse of both her creative process and her sometimes haphazard artistic tendencies with a series of musical vignettes that often come off feeling like half-finished thoughts, while occasionally coalescing into a relatively cohesive composition that stands on its own.

Grimm’s sound is characterized by decidedly pagan and earthy vocals that are seemingly oblivious to the concepts of melody, rhythm and sometimes even pitch. She is the quintessential musical shaman who weaves chanting, wraithlike shrieks and even guttural sonic blurbs into arrangements that often evoke moody and primitive emotions. “Pigeon Food” is the representative offering on this debut release; brief, eerie and rather primordial in its acoustic, chaotic delivery, Grimm rambles on about – what? Sustenance? Love, relationships, survival? Not sure really, and I don’t suppose it matters; the evocative sounds form their own structure and present more as art than music, which I suspect is what Grimm is all about anyway.

This is a remarkably uneven album, even though most of the songs are similar in terms of composition and sound. Grimm’s words are mostly her own, in that their ultimate meaning (if any) is lost on all but her and presumably her more initiated acquaintances and fans; on “One Hundred Men” she croons “I don’t want to love you; I want to love again and again”. Really? With whom? Is this the confession of a wanton woman or something else altogether? Whatever; the moody strands of acoustic guitar are soothing in a mildly uncomfortable way regardless.

Grimm shows an ever-so-mild thread of earthy, pagan spirituality on this album that will surface even more on her follow-up ‘The Last Tree’, particularly on the creepy “Harpoon Baptism” with its native chanting and witchlike shrieking laughter setting the tone amid otherwise soothing acoustic instrumentation. She then moves effortlessly into the role of storytelling singer-songwriter with the brief confessional “I Killed Someone” and the dusk-embracing “Don’t Come Down, Darkness”; then wanders off into wyrd-folk territory with “Touch Me, Shaping Hands” before shifting to what is probably the most accessible track on the album (relatively-speaking) in “White Water”, and slow, almost dispassionate guitar noodling experiment that peters itself out to close the album.

Larkin’s next two albums show considerable forward-movement in terms of cohesive arrangement, musical discipline and meaningful lyrical composition. This first effort is clearly a sketchbook in which she has jotted down numerous musical ideas and indulged herself in working them out with varying degrees of success. The result will probably be seen by most as either prohibitively inaccessible or nothing more than a tepid sampler of her music. For the most part I agree. But for those who find themselves attracted to her later music, I’d recommend this as a record to discover once you’ve absorbed her more mature works, for the insight into her creative process if for no other reason. Two stars and recommended primarily to serious fans of Grimm’s work.

peace