PRESS
Larkin Grimm - Parplar
Thisaremusic.com
I put this on again immediately after hearing the first time.
http://Thisaremusic.com
Yeah, I feel you, Michael Gira put another ³freak folk² thing out. The man may have gotten a taste of dollars with Devendra, but face it: Banhart wouldn¹t have seemed very cool to just anyone, so I very much doubt that he¹s trying to ride the wave. More like he¹s just plain into this shit.
But sometimes, you don¹t have to strain to see why.
Unlike the other recent catch for Young God, Fire on Fire (who play on this record), Larkin Grimm sounds like something different, even as nicely as she fits into the Gira canon. Akron/Family may envelop you in a cult-like all-encompassing hippie blanket, but Grimm is much like her name. The melodies are solid, and the construction and production won¹t be any surprise to fans of the 21st-century incarnation of Gira, but the vibe is strange. Her feminist/post-feminist screeds aren¹t really angry and they¹re certainly not Kathleen Hanna material, nor are songs like ³Anger in your Liver² as hippie as you might think. She¹s just real, which makes her a million years removed from the spaced-out A/F but still magically appropriate for Young God.
Don¹t mistake Real for gritty ‹ she changes vocal style often and some of the more Banhart-y styles may be off putting to some, but overall there¹s the kind of homey feel that MG seems to love to project. And that I love to listen to. Don¹t mistake Real for ³singer-songwritery² either. There¹s an immediacy to the tunes that rambling coffee-shoppers can¹t seem to grasp, and a willingness to do what has to be done ‹ whether it¹s repeating, whistling, banging on stuff. Gira tastefully lends polish to all this without sounding intrusive or ³produced.²
I put this on again immediately after hearing the first time.