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Product Description
Review
It's not necessary to listen to much of Leeds trio Sky Larkin's debut record, The Golden Spike, to realise what the band are all about; and not much longer than that is needed to realise what is so appealing about the type of music they play. On that album we became familiar with a group who knew how to squeeze as good as everything out of the three-minute guitar-pop song with eyes cast across the Atlantic and their feet firmly on British soil.
With Kaleide, they pick up where they left off. As ever, Katie Harkin's voice threatens to burst out of its constraints from the start, but stays powerful and steady through each varying passage of play, whether bold or placid. Although on the surface the direction has altered hardly at all, there are hints – the hushed beginning of Landlocked and the slow-driven Anjelica Huston – which show a development in the trio's mastery and use of dynamics. Worry not, songs still burst violently when they need to – like on opener Still Windmills – but the density of those cuts is enhanced by the occasional mellow undercurrent, as the Pacific-coast-kissed Spooktacular proves, following a lull in intensity.
It isn't until the closer, Smarts, that the band hit their peak and arguably fulfil what they're capable of for the first time in two albums. It is, without reservation, a side which we need to see more of. The way Harkin sings gently, caressing the words from her lips over the top of an understated yet threatening guitar and drum backing, gives us a rare chance to take in the lyrical strength of the band, away from the crunching chords and crashing cymbals.
Nothing that features on Kaleide will come as a surprise to those familiar with Sky Larkin's debut, though it will please them. There is not a great shift away from the successful and sturdy formula practiced so far in their career, but that which does suggests greater things – perhaps not in the recognition they'll receive, but definitely in the quality which they'll produce. Sky Larkin, then: getting better whilst still staying the same.
--Luke SlaterFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Sky Larkin are an energetic trio from Leeds. Katie Harkin sings and plays
guitar, Doug Adams plays bass and Nestor Matthews hits the drums.
Their no-frills approach to composition and performance is refreshing.
They punch way above their weight given the resources at their disposal,
not least of all because of Ms Harkin's splendidly angular guitar playing,
which provides a distinctive chiming quality to the band's overall sound.
Her voice too, despite its limitations, has a snarling punkish charm which
serves the generally raucous material well (think a slightly less disciplined
and very English Hayley Williams and you're somewhere close).
There are a twelve tracks on the album to consider. Highlights would have
to include opening track 'Still Windmills' which has half-a-dozen good
pop-friendly ideas stitched together into one coherent whole; 'Anjelica
Houston', with its boundless enthusiasm and infectiously repeated hook
("as the train pulled out of the station the light hit your face like Anjelica Houston");
'Spooktacular', which rips along at a cracking pace (Mr Matthews lays into
his kit like a man possessed !) and demonstrates the band's significant
ensemble skills and the truly magnificent 'ATM' which finds Ms Harkin
questioning whether "a selfish heart is a truthful muscle or not" (what a
singularly splendid line!) All this and more proves that Sky Larkin have
musical and lyrical savvy (and not a little swagger!) in abundance.
Recorded in Seattle, with producer John Goodmanson recruited to help
bring these songs to life, 'Kaleide' is a more than worthy effort by a
band whose honest and uncluttered approach to their craft may well reap
rich rewards for them in time. I liked it a lot.
Recommended.
guitar, Doug Adams plays bass and Nestor Matthews hits the drums.
Their no-frills approach to composition and performance is refreshing.
They punch way above their weight given the resources at their disposal,
not least of all because of Ms Harkin's splendidly angular guitar playing,
which provides a distinctive chiming quality to the band's overall sound.
Her voice too, despite its limitations, has a snarling punkish charm which
serves the generally raucous material well (think a slightly less disciplined
and very English Hayley Williams and you're somewhere close).
There are a twelve tracks on the album to consider. Highlights would have
to include opening track 'Still Windmills' which has half-a-dozen good
pop-friendly ideas stitched together into one coherent whole; 'Anjelica
Houston', with its boundless enthusiasm and infectiously repeated hook
("as the train pulled out of the station the light hit your face like Anjelica Houston");
'Spooktacular', which rips along at a cracking pace (Mr Matthews lays into
his kit like a man possessed !) and demonstrates the band's significant
ensemble skills and the truly magnificent 'ATM' which finds Ms Harkin
questioning whether "a selfish heart is a truthful muscle or not" (what a
singularly splendid line!) All this and more proves that Sky Larkin have
musical and lyrical savvy (and not a little swagger!) in abundance.
Recorded in Seattle, with producer John Goodmanson recruited to help
bring these songs to life, 'Kaleide' is a more than worthy effort by a
band whose honest and uncluttered approach to their craft may well reap
rich rewards for them in time. I liked it a lot.
Recommended.
Format:Vinyl
I'll start off by saying this is a review of the vinyl and the package it comes in, not the music!
This is one of the better LPs I've seen in a long while. The gatefold is made from heavy card with a matte finish and feels like very good quality. Its a 1 disc package, so one side is glued up. The record itself comes in a lovely coloured and decorated sleeve made from card, not the normal bit of white paper that you normally get.
The vinyl itself is 180g, has a highly coloured label and to my ears sounds fantastic.
All in its a package of the highest quality. If only all were like this!
This is one of the better LPs I've seen in a long while. The gatefold is made from heavy card with a matte finish and feels like very good quality. Its a 1 disc package, so one side is glued up. The record itself comes in a lovely coloured and decorated sleeve made from card, not the normal bit of white paper that you normally get.
The vinyl itself is 180g, has a highly coloured label and to my ears sounds fantastic.
All in its a package of the highest quality. If only all were like this!
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