15 Jun
Album review: Lupen Crook – Waiting For the Post-Man
If last year’s punk/folk album ‘The Pros & Cons of Eating Out’ was a chronicle of the hedonistic life Lupen Crook was living at the time it was recorded, ‘Waiting For the Post-Man’, named after a poem by close friend Matthew Stephens Scott who died last year, is the come down. A deeply personal album, ‘Waiting For The Post-Man’ finds Crook in a mellow, reflective mood as he takes stock of how his lifestyle, and the death of his friend, have affected his life and his relationships with the people around him. Musically it’s predominantly performed with just acoustic guitar, but some sort of simpering, soppy James Blunt crap this is not! The thing that always drew me to Lupen Crook was the simmering anger and aggression in his delivery and I’m pleased to say that though the music has mellowed his attitude and spirit remain intact. The album finds him in fine voice too, but it’s in the lyrics that Crook really shines, most notably on acidic album opener ‘The Domestic’ as he spits ‘a life so ordinary life so ordinary it could never hurt’ at his lover. His most consistent album to date, ‘Waiting For the Post-Man’ is absolutely loaded with excellent songs, none more so than the splendidly dark synth-pop of ‘Hard Times’. 9/10
Mark Cousens
Out 20th June on Beast Reality
No related posts.
