Lupen Crook - Matthew's Magpie
There is a feeling of invasion whilst listening to Lupen Crook's Matthew's Magpie EP. It feels as if your personal space is being infringed upon, like when you're confronted by an over-zealous salesperson who deliberately gets in your face in an effort to assert their authority.
Such a feeling can be attributed to the quirky arrangement, the fast-paced restless vocals that spit lyrics like at you like a rabid coke fiend. The EP is certainly distinctive and delightfully quirky in places.
The listener is lured in with an acoustic guitar strumming away to Crook's unusual vocals that do sound akin to the chaps from The Mighty Boosh. The tension is broken abruptly by a barrage of guitar and bass as Crook abandons the enunciated folkish vocals as he as wails and whines in a 70's prog rock fashion. This first minute of the record offers an insight into the hectic and eclectic EP. The approach creates a record that is somewhere between a musical hybrid and a mongrel.
The convergence of different styles with Crook's distinctive haunting style gives us an intriguing listen and a CD which has offered me something new each time I've listened to it. The approach is bold and ballsy and whether it can be sustained so successfully over the course of an album without going too far remains to be seen.
On that note, I eagerly await the forthcoming second Album next year.