Poor Creature (Lankum/Landless)

Featuring alumni from our 2023 Album of the Year awardees, Lankum, Poor Creature’s approach is more expansive, blending raw folk emotion with subtle electronics that voyage into the vast, unbridled psychedelic grooves that formed the cosmos itself.

It's rare to hear something that manages to feel as majestic as mountains and breathtakingly intimate within the gasp of a gently slurred string, yet that’s precisely the magic that this troupe deliver. It’s a stunning release that’s already resonating deeply amongst the Residents and it comes in a fittingly resplendent Dinked package to boot!

Poor Creature is comprised of Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody; all three are members of other bands (Landless and Lankum respectively) who have built a large following on re-interpreting songs from the past. Songs that have existed for centuries can seem immutable and anchored to time. A new generation of Irish musicians are keen to acknowledge that musical legacy, while reimagining the songs within a contemporary context. Poor Creature’s sound – particularly in the context of contemporary Irish folk – offers something unique. There’s the gauzy, underwater, almost psychedelic seams of ‘Bury Me Not’ and ‘Adieu Lovely Erin’. ‘'All Smiles Tonight'’ and ‘Hicks’ Farewell’ nod to the influence of American folk/bluegrass acts like Doc Watson and the Louvin Brothers.

These shifting sounds are made possible by producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy, who has produced all of Lankum’s albums, and worked with Junior Brother, ØXN, Pretty Happy, Ye Vagabonds as as well as the final two albums by The Jimmy Cake, with whom John has played for over 20 years. “There’s something about the everyday and the fantastical, being entangled, which I think Irish music does so well.” This also sums up 'All Smiles Tonight', moving through stories and loss and history to create an otherworldly and timeless album for the ages.

For Fans Of: GAS | Lankum | Massive Attack | Landless | Comus | ØXN | Doc Watson | Ye Vagabonds