Larkin Grimm - Parplar (US, 2008)
Yeah, I feel you, Michael Gira put another “freak folk” thing out. The man may have gotten a taste of dollars with Devendra, but face it: Banhart wouldn’t have seemed very cool to just anyone, so I very much doubt that he’s trying to ride the wave. More like he’s just plain into this shit.
But sometimes, you don’t 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 won’t be any surprise to fans of the 21st-century incarnation of Gira, but the vibe is strange. Her feminist/post-feminist screeds aren’t really angry and they’re certainly not Kathleen Hanna material, nor are songs like “Anger in your Liver” as hippie as you might think. She’s just real, which makes her a million years removed from the spaced-out A/F but still magically appropriate for Young God.
Don’t 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 there’s the kind of homey feel that MG seems to love to project. And that I love to listen to. Don’t mistake Real for “singer-songwritery” either. There’s an immediacy to the tunes that rambling coffee-shoppers can’t seem to grasp, and a willingness to do what has to be done — whether it’s repeating, whistling, banging on stuff. Gira tastefully lends polish to all this without sounding intrusive or “produced.”
I put this on again immediately after hearing the first time.
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