The Great Malarkey

A stone belter of an album.

Packed with genres (and true to none) they manage to cross over from folk to punk, add in Gypsy, a touch of flamenco a bit of rap and even dark cabaret and wrap it all into a high energy package that I found just about irresistible. Damn but this album is fun.

There is no shortage of great playing or songwriting, in fact I’d have to say that the band are all really talented but they have to be viewed as a whole and even then, this is really is a case of ‘greater than the sum of the parts’.

Alex Gillings is a really fresh sounding front-person; smoky voice with just enough pitch to keep her away from the ordinary and set against a four piece horn section, fiddle, bass drums & guitar and keyboards the result is rambunctious and right on the edge of control.

They claim Tom Waits, Manu Chao and Nick Cave as influences and I would add the Quireboys in there as well but their sound really doesn't rely on those styles to make sense. They are pretty well uniques. Did I say they were also a helluva lot of fun?

The album bears listening to time and again. It really is one of the freshest sounds I’ve picked up this year and I can’t wait to see them live.