By Phillip Smith; Oct. 8, 2016
Thanks to Elvis Costello, the music of Atlanta-based
duo Larkin Poe is now in my
awareness. Rebecca and Megan Lovell
have been opening for Costello on
his most recent tour, Detour. The talents of this sister-duo run deep. Rebecca
commands the stage with her no-holds barred presence on both mic and lead
guitar, while Megan pours out rich
vocal harmonies, all while slaying the lap steel guitar. Reskinned,
their second full length album brings to the table five new tracks and seven
re-released songs from the 2014 critically acclaimed Kin.
From the beginning, with the
hard-rockin’ “Sucker Puncher”, Larkin
Poe is quick to grab me by the collar.
This song is dripping with attitude. Between the fierce riffs coming from Rebecca and lush slide from Megan, I am totally captivated. The Lovells
seriously kick out the jams with their bad-girl anthem “Trouble in Mind”. I love the sheer rawness of “P.R.O.B.L.E.M”,
with its riveting guitar licks and punk attitude served Jack White style. Stand-out
songs, the deliciously swampy “When God Closes a Door” and the wonderfully
melodic and bluesy “Blunt” puts the magnifying glass to religion and dogma.
Their style of songwriting is
unique and oftentimes dark, and their performance is wondrous and exciting. Reskinned is such a terrific album, I
can hardly stand to take it out of the CD player.
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