‘Unpredictable’ would be a fair summary of Lupen Crook’s latest offering. And that’s cool. There’s a dark theatricality to opener ‘The Counting Song’ which contrasts with the deceptively groovy rhythm which suddenly kicks in and takes the song somewhere entirely unexpected – in a good way. ‘Is it real? Is it fuck’ he challenges, and we’re soon reminded that Crook’s a master of the flourish and the incongruous stylistic twist, but also has a knack for knowing just when to tell it straight: ‘I’m sick of all these cunts with all the gear but no idea of what it means’ he vents on the pirate shanty ‘Treasons to be Beautiful’.
These are British Folk Tales in the sense that they address the state of the nation through the eyes of the everyman – well, sort of. Crook’s clearly not an everyman, ‘cause he’s smarter than that, but this means he’s capable of articulating himself and his frustrations better than most. He’s also capable of a good singalong, as on ‘My Mistaken Angel’ which swings along nicely, and there’s a hint of Richard Butler in Crook’s delivery on the string-soaked yet subtle ‘Crumb Trails’, and the comparisons extend into the lyrics, too.
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‘The Wider World’ is a simple acoustic strum and holler folk protest song, at least until it explodes into a jaunty Britpop number (I’m talking Kinks, not Oasis et al) a minute or so in. Meanwhile, ‘Herding Cats’ features the improbable line, ‘Are you down in the dumps? Is your head full of hamsters?’ It’s all evidence of an artist with a keen ear for the unusual, yet who’s able to balance it with accessibility and flashes of humour, making ‘British Folk Tales’ a real gem of an album.
Lupen Crook Online
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