LABOUR OF LOVELL
If the art of album sequencing has fallen by the wayside in the age of outside curation by streaming services, then Larkin Poe didn’t get the memo. The roots-rock duo’s new LP, Self Made Man, sparks into life with the thud of a kick drum, the thrum of power chords and a molasses-thick riff. It’s a classic example of the opener as statement – the affirmation in this case being that things have changed around these parts. As guitarist Rebecca Lovell puts it, “If you’re not going to kick down the door, why go into the room?”
The song in question is the title track of sorts, She’s A Self Made Man. It exists at an exciting remove from the brass-vocal workout Sometimes, which led Larkin Poe’s adventurous 2018 album Venom & Faith, and it’s not a red herring. As a whole, Self Made Man is a bold, confident left turn into chunky guitar lines and the golden hues of classic rock.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time self-discovering over the past three to five years and this album is a peak moment for us in our late-twenties, early-thirties,” says Rebecca, on
