Album Review: Larry and His Flask - 'By The Lamplight'

Larry and His Flask are like a punk rock version of Mumford & Sons on crack. 'By The Lamplight,' the new record from these well-dressed gentlemen, showcases their unique brand of, well, it's hard to define, but it includes rock, punk, folk and a little barbershop as well.

The banjo runs rampant throughout the opening track 'Pandemonium' laced with horns and fast paced drums all supporting front man Ian Cook's solid vocal lines. The music pushes on transporting you to a time where bars only served whiskey and pianos played themselves. These guys are like vaudeville punk folk with "have a good time" smeared across their walls.

The pace slows to a sleazy shuffle on 'Barleywine Bump', which shifts its mood, marked by dirty effects on the vocals in the beginning changing to a clean bop at the end. The banjo keeps the sound consistent while the other instruments work as hard as they can to keep the record diverse, especially on the gloomy, but powerful 'Log, Heath, And Ash', that is driven by its rumbling, crashing rhythm lines. The pace quickens for the knee-slapping 'Home of the Slave', which chucks in a little blues rock influence with a great guitar solo before things get dark again on the waltzy, metaphor filled 'Some Cruel Twist of Fate'.

The record closes off with a huge change in dynamics for the acoustic number 'All That We've Seen' before ending things on a high again with the energetic 'Tides'. The production is kept quite raw, the band have a live feel about the tracks that give the opinion that this is exactly what you would get in a live setting and whilst there is, at times, a clutter of instrumentation, they are still able to provide sufficient space for the many sounds involved.

Larry and His Flask are bringing the party super old school on 'By The Lamplight', with enough dynamics and genre influences to keep the train rolling from start to finish. Five albums in these guys are at the point of mastering their unique sound.

1. Pandemonium

2. Out of Print

3. Barleywine Bump

4. The Battle for Clear Signs

5. Log, Hearth, And Ash

6. Gone From You

7. Home of the Slave

8. Some Cruel Twist of Fate

9. Justice and Justification

10. Muffled Thrums

11. All That We've Seen

12. Tides