LARKIN GRIMM

With the early acoustic days behind her, and a generally warmer and more controlled voice and style reminiscent of SALLY OLDFIELD among others, Grimm again engages a band of master musicians, who elevate each and every track. The sprinkling jazz tinged harps of "Fear Transforms into Love" and "I Don't Believe You", companion pieces that highlight her expanding vocal skills; the joyous should-have-been-a-hitness of "Beautifully Alone" that resonates among the perennially single on yet another solo journey; the ambient ballad "A Perfect World"; and the closer and title track with its heaving sax and anguished screams which seem to have brought Grimm full circle all epitomize the secrets herein, revealed with gracious subtlety or hurling impact as needed.

Given that "Chasing an Illusion" is still Grimm's latest as of this writing, eight long years later, one can be both simultaneously optimistic and concerned for her future, but hopefully she will yet return with a work that is just as fantastically real.

If her dreadful debut is thankfully underexposed, the far better known "Harpoon" does mark her tentative steps towards a more coherent and, yes, listenable, model. It's still beyond strident in parts and, as if her voice doesn't go to those teetering and bat-infested eaves often enough, she has added equally shrill whistles to fill in the moments when she has to catch her breath, but hasn't figured out that things don't work that way. Still, for all its overly weird philosophy, "Harpoon" clearly emanates the soul of Appalachia at its core, epitomized by the rhythmic "Going Out" (which recalls the experimental SORNE), the playful "Pigeon Food", and the hypnotic and obsessive "One Hundred Men", while the sole epic "Future Friend" is better than most of what follows.

While understandably immature, "Harpoon" spearheads the evolution in Grimm's sound enough to motivate me forward.

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