Lankum – False Lankum

A deeply powerful glimpse of ageless songwriting...

An obsession with the past can alter and crush the brightest of futures. Yet an appreciation and understanding of what has come before can expand our knowledge of the world we fling ourselves forward into. Irish four-piece Lankum are well attuned to this distinction, and on ‘False Lankum’ they continue to mine some of the finest – and criminally overlooked – songs of folk musics past and tailor them to the zeitgeist.

Complete with two original compositions, ‘False Lankum’ evokes open water both lyrically and musically. ‘Master Crowley’s’ and ‘The New York Trader’ carry the bilious sway of a life spent at sea, while ‘Newcastle’ bears the sorrow of lovers parted by an insurmountable expanse. 

The record swells and retreats at will as the group flex their musical dexterity. The lurching sludge of the titanic, and at times terrifying ‘Go Dig My Grave’ is a formidable eight minute opener. It welcomes you into the quartet’s unique world where gutted mines are as likely to glisten with blood as they are to sparkle with gold. Then on ‘Lord Abore and Mary Flynn’ the band play their exquisite part in keeping the eerily beautiful ballad alive.

‘False Lankum’ will one day too become a historical artefact. But it is one which will brighten the future of those who devote time to its unique majesty. 

8/10

Words: Craig Howieson

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