Albums

The month's best guitar music a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

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Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony 

Tricki-Woo Records (available now)

The sisters return with their sixth dose of Southern rock We’ve been keeping a watchful eye on the sisters from Georgia since they first appeared on our radar. The multi instrumentalist Lovell sisters – Rebecca (lead vocals, guitar and keyboards) and Megan (lap steel, resonator

and harmony vocals) – may now be based in Nashville, but their music remains loyal to their birthplace tradition: gritty, slide-driven, riff-laden Southern rock. Blood Harmony is the sisters’ sixth studio album on their own Tricki-Woo label and was recorded largely in their own studio. “When steering by your own stars, you never quite know where you’re going to wind up,” they tell us. “Our true north is unique to us, and in following our true north without compromise, we have been out freewheeling this world on the ride of our lives.”

Blood Harmony begins with Deep Stays Down, stripped down with vocals, resonator guitar and drums, gradually building to a level of intensity that’s going to shake the foundations. The rest of the album keeps up the momentum, stopping off for some heartfelt ballads along the way. Might As Well Be Me is a good example, with smouldering vocals from Rebecca very much in the same ballpark as Susan Tedeschi or even Bonnie Raitt. As far as creating atmosphere is concerned, Lips As Cold As Diamond would be hard to beat, but the out-and-out rockers such as Southern Comfort, with its Lynyrd Skynyrd overtones, and the album’s title track show the sisters at their best. Watch out for them on tour in the UK in 2023. [DM]

Standout track: Lips As Cold As Diamond