Latest single from majestic folk mystery Lupen Crook.
Beginning as a soft folk effort with a mandolin and then bursting into a piano-fuelled knees up, Lupen Crook certainly has my attention. A 23 year old with an interestingly elusive but poetic biography on his website, it becomes apparent where the interest lies, within his mystery. With no real name revealed Lupen has created an odd persona steeped in intrigue. With a voice somewhere between Sam Beam of Iron & Wine and The Decemberists' Colin Meloy, in particular on 'Washing Blood From My Hands', Lupen reminds me of some of my favourites both of whom are certainly distinctive.
The soft lullaby quality of 'Shake Baby Shake', with its twinkling triangle and soft percussion manages to be a soothing and beautiful song despite its disturbing title. It appears to have been written about encouraging your loved one to shake off their troubles, as opposed to something more sinister.
Possibly the strongest song here is 'The Hidden Track', a song so hushed and muffled you need to pay attention to notice it. Containing the prosaic lines "I'm just a black scratch on a calendar map" and "I'm as drunk as a poet but I ain't got no words, there's nothing for me to say that you haven't said first," which help to highlight the strength and effective simplicity of Lupen's songs.
The music is a fairly quiet affair, but has an unsettling undercurrent, making me think of dense woodlands beset by a howling wind, the presence of a cello always plays odd tricks on my mind. Vinyl-only last track 'The Lost Belonging' is reminiscent of a more acoustic Rasputina, and has a similarly creepy effect, making it an excellent way to end this 5-track collection. Lupen certainly seems comfortable to join artists such as Patrick Wolf and The Decemberists who seem to belong in another era entirely, artists so strikingly original they follow the beat of their own very distinctive tune.