PARPLAR

Third album from our Appalachian Indian Wyrd folk artiste and this is now a great leap forward from the rachitic Harpoon. First off the bat, Grimm has now an army of musical friends dying to help her out. Musically her realm has veered from a cold acid folk (ala ISB) to a much warmer cross of Wyrd folk, hovering Tunng and Cajun music or other brands of Appalachian folk. While the outer shell of her digipak present us reptiles, the inner booklet, through an extended drawing shows us that her shamanic obsessions remain alive, but there is an added European Smurf/forest bjkltroll thing more present through the obvious Tunng influences.

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.

I was starting to wonder if LARKIN GRIMM would ever see her art as more than personal therapy but as a means to connect with an audience beyond the double digits, and along came 2008's "Parplar". Same voice but a poppier, more relatable weirdness. The full band helps coax a variety of Appalachian and celtic influences out of their long hibernation. The juxtaposition of styles and arrangements makes for an engrossing listen from start to finish, with nary a misstep, be it the arrestingly lively "Ride that Cyclone", "Mino Minou", and "Fall on my Knees", the more balladic but lyrically fascinating "Blond and Gold Johns" and "Anger in My Liver", the country ish "Be my Host", or the unsettling chants of "Durge". If you heard her earlier work and threw up your arms in defeat, give this one a chance.