Whisperin And Hollerin published a lengthy feature on the Curse of the Mirror Wicked EP yesterday. Part review, part interview, part editorial, it’s a detailed response to this release in particular and the band’s overall ethos in general.
“Whilst it may initially feel like a comedown from the adventure of previous releases, about five listens in these songs get into you, and they stay, putting this up there with some of the best songs they have ever written. Having had this EP for about a week, my I-pod is starting to sigh with my predictability. It’s a compulsive listen that grows. Few bands are worthy of the near sycophantism. It’s a new dimension to what they do, these self-referential confessions told with elements of remorse. The context of this release makes each track poignant, with the themes never sounding more explicit than on ‘Devil’s Son.’”
As a semi-objective assessment of both what the band has been up to this year and the ideas behind this latest project, we think you might enjoy it. It’s a great summary to read alongside our own two-part interview published last week.
You can read the feature here and download the EP here.
The Dysunited Kingdom remains the band’s heARTland, but it’s great to see the attention that the Great Fears & Curious Predictions EP is attracting from elsewhere. The above list of countries shows where the EP’s mini-site visitors have come from so far. Here are some review highlights that we’ve spotted…
DrunkenWerewolf:
“In its entirety Great Fears and Curious Predictions is everything I could have prayed for and more… the penmanship is flawless and fan or foe would be hard pushed to adequately criticise any aspect of the EP. It’s not often that a 5-track secures the position of release of the year, but I have a feeling Crook may have broken normal conventions.”
Zoom In:
“Lupen’s songs have always been malleable, a characteristic allowing them to be performed by Mr. Crook on his own, as well as by the various Murderbirds incarnations. As this EP clearly shows, the tunes hold up to such experimentation because they’re so strong to begin with.”
WhiteTapes (rough translation from German):
“That we need to reintroduce Lupen Crook & The Murderbirds to you when they’ve already put out two albums shows that something is clearly not right in the music business, because this great release from singer-songwriter Lupen Crook deserves much more attention.”
ByteFM (rough translation from German):
“Wonderful music for a lonely Saturday evening, or alternatively an active Sunday morning.”
2 гамбургера и 2 коки (very rough translation from Russian - can anyone help?):
“British musicians are incredibly generous; this time it is Lupen Crook And The Murderbirds. Lupen Crook himself is an acoustic singer with a painful voice. As a part of The Murderbirds, he’s a melodramatic and devilish writer who mixes freak folk and rock.”
Also thanks to Jécoutedelamusiquedemerde and NO-NAME for their mentions and particularly to NME for the news story. Everyone’s support is really appreciated.
It’ll come up on its side, but go to view and rotate. The review, if you fancy reading it is down the right hand side. x Thanks Huddersfield.
huddersfield-daily-examiner-review
An interesting review of The Lost Belongings on SoundsXP.com:
“Lupen Crook is an odd one… part Pete Doherty, part Percy Bysshe Shelley, spitting out his words in Estuary English in songs that are part-skiffle, part-ballad, part-cabaret (‘Lest We Connect The Crooked Family’) or dabbling in folkatronica (‘Scare Crows’)… The effect is individual, resolutely uncommercial and a psychologist’s dream.”
Read the full review here.
The Lost Belongings EP has been picking up some good reviews. WhatsOn gives it four stars:
“… this is sincere. This is real. Call it lo-fi-folk-punk-indie-dub-rockabilly or whatever it must be categorised as, the point is that it’s honest AND accessible, two words that very rarely get combined when discussing modern music.”
Teletext’s Planet Sound section follows suit, awarding eight out of ten:
“… a Too Rye Ay-era Dexys racket, full of brassy insouciance and a rickety piano like the best drunken night out. Huge skill behind the ramshackle charm.”
For the sake of balance, here’s a less than enthusiastic two-star review of the EP from The Skinny:
“Their coupling of London estuary indie with violins and mandolins is an obvious ploy to attain an air of authenticity, but Crook’s voice is too one-dimensional, too limited to deliver any tenderness when it’s called for.”
That’s fine, not everyone’s going to like it. A factual correction to that one: the band left its former record label – a local indie rather than a major – by choice.
“… a rich tapestry featuring a myriad of elements that tell of dark tales wrapped with music hall reverie, sepia set skiffle shanties and a kick backing swoon of tail feather teasing smoked and shuffling skeletal rockabilly.”
LOSINGTODAY.COM‘s detailed, song-by-song review of The Lost Belongings EP is so packed with evocative imagery that it almost makes my eyes bleed red tears of joy. It’s a fine description of what to expect. Read the full review here.
Lupen Crook And The Murderbirds
EP:The Lost Belongings
Label:Beast Reality
Website: http://www.lupencrook.com
“The sound of Lupen Crook And The Murderbirds is as likely to take you down a dark alley and kick the living daylights out of you as it is to look at you. Whilst it’s got a touch of the Anthony Newleys to it or even Bowie it picks up a harder edge that sets it apart, but retains the theatrics that gave both artists their early success. “The Lost Belongings” lashes out with punk sensibility, angry, passionate and overwhleming desire to rage against the bland. It’s dark almost Dickensian, dark stories fighting against hopelessness, because it’s stronger than that.”
Read the latest reviews on Fatea’s website here.
