This May Be Modern Folk Music’s own OK Computer” MOJO – ALBUM OF THE MONTH
“By some measure their most ambitious in terms of instrumentation, arrangements and the sheer creation of atmosphere… stoking the engines of folk tradition and setting course to who knows when.” UNCUT – 9/10
“Whether their embrace of influences from across the musical spectrum, the way they combine both traditional and progressive instincts, or even the way their albums cross from covers to self-penned songs with such ease, Lankum are at their best when they operate across the thresholds.” The Quietus
Critically acclaimed Irish quartet Lankum today share a new single ‘Newcastle’, taken from their forthcoming album ‘False Lankum’, which is released on March 24, 2023 via Rough Trade Records.
Lankum explain the background to ‘Newcastle’, “We learned this song from Seán Fitzgerald of The Deadlians, whose mother Pauline sang it to him as a child. The tune was first published in ‘The English Dancing Master’ (1651) where it is simply entitled ‘Newcastle’, while the words may be related to a broadside ballad printed in 1620 and entitled ‘The contented Couckould, Or a pleasant new Songe of a New-Castle man whose wife being gon from him, shewing how he came to London to her, & when he found her carried her backe againe to New-Castle Towne.”
False Lankum follows their 2019 breakthrough album The Livelong Day, which paved the way for critical and commercial success, earning them that year’s RTE Choice Music Prize (the Irish equivalent of the Album of the Year Grammy) and the #8 spot on NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year list. Drawing on traditional folk songs, Lankum put their own dark, distinctive mark onto each, leaning into heavy drones and sonic distortion that imparts new intensity and beauty into each track. This record sees the band cement their breakout from the folk genre, creating bold, contemporary music that may be fashioned from traditional elements but is firmly new, sitting comfortably alongside Rough Trade labelmates like black midi and Gilla Band. False Lankum also features two original tracks, ‘Netta Perseus’ and ‘The Turn’, both penned by the group’s Daragh Lynch.
From the start, Dublin’s Lankum planned for False Lankum, their fourth record and third for Rough Trade, to feel like a complete piece – a progression and a journey for the listener. “We wanted to create more contrast on the record so the light parts would be almost spiritual and the dark parts would be incredibly dark, even horror inducing,” they explain. The album’s 12 tracks, composed of 10 traditional songs and two originals, show the four-piece using a new palate to colour their sound in an increasingly experimental way, alongside longtime producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy.
Pre-order: https://lankum.ffm.to/falselankum
False Lankum Tracklist:
01) Go Dig My Grave
02) Clear Away In the Morning
03) Fugue I
04) Master Crowley’s
05) Newcastle
06) Fugue II
07) Netta Perseus
08) The New York Trader
09) Lord Abore and Mary Flynn
10) Fugue III
11) On a Monday Morning
12) The Turn
Reaction to the group’s previous album The Livelong Day:
“Their most extreme statement yet. Rough Trade’s most startling release of the autumn” Mojo 5/5
“A fierce and fragile masterpiece” The Irish Times 5/5
“A thorough exploration and devastation of folk’s most conventional tropes is Lankum’s impressive game” The Guardian 5/5
“‘The Livelong Day’ is dark, powerful and disquieting stuff that resonates long after the final note has subsided” Uncut 4/5 lead review
“Things are heavier and more apocalyptic-sounding than ever… Spellbinding” Billboard
“Artists such as Portishead and Brian Eno come to mind. An album of the year for me” Bob Boilen – NPR (USA)
“Incredible… one of the folk scene’s most refreshing and innovative acts” The Sun 4/5
“Writhing with the terror of our times one moment, then rising with indescribable heart and hunger the next; this is traditional song stretched and submerged. … right now, to these ears, it sounds timeless” Folk Radio
Lankum are Ian Lynch, Daragh Lynch, Radie Peat and Cormac MacDiarmada
