Larkin Poe’s “Blood Harmony” is rich and full of everything you want from sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell. Rock, blues, southern jams and even a power ballad.
When you listen to the latest outing from Larkin Poe, “Blood Harmony” it’s obvious from track one that this is a special album. It opens with “Deep Stays Down,” a haunting song that tells a great story in the style of Bobby Gentry. Megan’s opening notes from her chilling lap steel guitar set the tone for the rest of the album.
This project is a departure from their earlier outings where it was recorded live off the floor. Rebecca says “’Blood Harmony’ is the most authentic record that we’ve made and authentic to us is living under the expansive umbrella of roots Americana music. We want to let every angle of who we are as people and musicians be expressed in the music that we make. Recording live off the floor was a distinct decision we made, We were aware there was a growing divide between how our albums sounded and how we sound live, how we sound on stage as a lean mean rock and roll machine. We wanted that energy to be expressed in the recording of this album.”
“Blood Harmony” takes you on a musical whirlwind with hard driving blues numbers such as “Bad Spell,” “Bolt Cutters & The Family Name” and “Kick The Blues.” “Strike Gold” and “Summertime Sunset” are hard rocking numbers that are perfect for hitting the road with the top down. As mentioned there’s even a power ballad with “Might As Well Be Me.” “Georgia Off My Mind” and “Southern Comfort” are homages to their homeland.
Larkin Poe are known for their story telling in song keeping the old school southern blues tradition alive with smart lyrics and gospel influenced vocals. The songs “Lips As Cold As Diamond” and my personal favourite, “Deep Stays Down” are eerie tales of love and death. “Deep Stays Down” is also a favourite of Megan’s “this is one song that we had to be very patient with. We love the lyrics and melody. The lyrics are actually a bit of a mystery. Something is held back. The story is kind of hinted at but not completely told. That’s very much in the style of southern gothic writing and folk writing. This song took a while to find its final form. It started as an upbeat energetic track; we tried it as a slow cinematic track. It took a while for us to figure out what it was calling for until I started playing that riff. We then thought the riff could keep playing through the entire song and then everything fell into place.” The opening riff does grab you and takes you into the story and leads the listener on a tale of death and mystery.
How do they approach song writing? Rebecca says, “My relationship to song writing has changed over the years. I used to have more of a slap dash approach and stick with whatever comes first as the best idea. The deeper we have gotten, the more comfortable I have grown with self editing and being willing to go in and make sure that what I am saying is what I mean and that I’m putting my authentic heart into a song. I do subscribe to the belief that writing is rewriting. I’ve read a lot of text on song writing and have taken inspiration from Stephen King’s “On Writing” about how to reapproach your work and really get into the nuts and bolts of your art and shore it up. Make sure that its as bullet proof as it can be.” I asked if they are at a point in their career where they can take time to slowly get it right. “In todays world it’s actually the opposite. You have move quickly or you’re going to get left behind. With this album we did take the most time of any album we’ve been able to make in recent years. We had a few weeks to write in January. We recorded in February and mixed and mastered into March and we were done. As an independent band, a lot of time does get spent making the record and moving on. You have to do the best that you can. Let it be real, let be authentic and see what comes next.” Megan adds, “As we gotten further into our career, we are able to let egos go especially as siblings and co-creators we can let the best idea win and as much as possible take that protective ego out of the equation. That makes it easier to look at an idea and tear it apart, open it up, restructure it and make it the best that it can be.”
The title track “Blood Harmony” tells the tale of how it all started, ‘God gave mama a singing voice Mama passed it down to me. More than flesh, more than bone, when you sing I don’t sing alone.’ Megan adds “some of our earliest memories of music is singing harmony with our mother. It is something that’s passed down in the blood and there’s nothing like it. There is nothing like blood harmony. This title refers to our sibling-hood which is one of the most important things to us.”
I asked if sibling rivalry cast a shadow around them at times. Megan says, “We’ve managed throughout the years to take what could be a dysfunctional relationship and use it to our advantage, look at it in a healthy way, work through our baggage and become stronger together because we really are stronger together as a team. We are very different people and have our own strengths and weaknesses, but we are on the same page and want the same things in life and for our music. That helps us work through some of the issues that do crop up.”
I asked if there was one artist comparison that they could not relate to: “We are very comfortable with owning the fact that music is created in the context of other music. We’re building songs from the same amount of notes and scales and we have the same six strings on a guitar. There’s so many shared elements of the cultural consciousness of music that when folks draw comparisons, we’re ‘like yeah, totally.’ If you hear it, I believe it. I emulate my heroes like Screaming Jay Hopkins, Magic Sam or Skip James. I listen to their music and emulate versions of what they do. That’s what I think creates the musical lineage. Being derivative can be used as a knock against somebody’s art but the truth is we’re all derivative.”
“When steering by your own stars, you never quite know where you’re going to wind up,” says Larkin Poe. “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. And it still feels like just the beginning. Blood Harmony is a creative step we are proud to have taken together as sisters. We grew these songs in a sweet part of our hearts and we hope they bring beauty.”
“Blood Harmony” truly is a “Buffet of tasty grooves,” to paraphrase Megan. Enjoy it wherever you get your music. Its as honest and as real as it gets in today’s noisy world of music.
For more info check out https://www.larkinpoe.com/
