WE ARE only days away from the start of 2012 but already there is some potentially good music in store with new albums from Delorentos, Mark Lanegan, and First Aid Kit on the way.
On January 20, pulchritudinous Swedish sisters First Aid Kit release their second album The Lion’s Roar on Wichita Recordings. FAK are Klara and Johanna Söderberg who play bittersweet folk-pop and country songs, which hint at the influence of Emmylou Harris, June Carter Cash, and Gram Parsons.
“We like bittersweet songs, songs that affect you differently depending on how you interpret them,” says Klara while big sister Johanna adds: “Making the melodies and lyrics head in different directions is very deliberate. A song like ‘Emmylou’ sounds cheerful, but the lyrics are sad.”
Over the last couple of years First Aid Kit have gone from teenage fans covering Fleet Foxes for fun (now approaching 2.5 million views on YouTube ) to recording a single of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s ‘Universal Soldier’ with Jack White in Nashville.
Mark Lanegan is no stranger to Galway having played this city a couple of times - memorably with Greg Dulli in January 2009 in the Róisín Dubh - and on February 3, under the guise of the Mark Lanegan Band, he returns with a new album.
Blues Funeral will be released on 4AD and is Mark’s first solo album since 2004’s Bubblegum. It was recorded in Hollywood, California by Alain Johannes at his 11ad studio. The music was played by Johannes and Jack Irons with appearances from Greg Dulli and Queens Of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme.
As regards new Irish releases many will be looking forward to Delorentos’ third album, Little Sparks, which will be released on January 27.
The 12-track album was recorded with Mercury Music Prize Award Winner Rob Kirwan, who has worked with PJ Harvey. The album follows hot on the heels of the recent four-track EP (of the same name ) which came packaged with a full colour, 40 page, magazine that the band devised and edited – with the help of their friends – and was accompanied by a successful acoustic tour of Ireland.
To mark the album’s release Delorentos will tour Ireland, taking in a show at the Róisín Dubh on Friday March 9 at 8pm. See www.delorentos.net
