Lupen Crook and the Murderbirds - Iscariot the Ladder

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 29 / 1 / 2008

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Lupen Crook’s output has been very subdued since the release of his debut album, 'Accidents Occur Whilst Sleeping', in 2006. After a spate of releases and favourable press (including a place on the NME’s cool list – woo-bloody-hoo) Crook seemed to disappear almost completely until late last year, when he released ‘Matthew’s Magpie’, a reworking of a track from his first EP, with his band the Murderbirds now receiving joint credit. As reviewed for Pennyblackmusic at the time, it showed much promise for the band’s second full-length release. The resultant album, 'Iscariot the Ladder', lives up to the promise. As well as ‘Matthew’s Magpie’, the album’s high points are the almost-pop ‘Young Love’, ‘Summer Time’, ‘Sympathy, Sunshine and the Catatonic Kiss…Goodbye’ (a typically Crook-ian title) and a full-band version of Crook fan-favourite ‘Lucky Six’ which brings the album triumphantly to a close. Shorter than the experimental 'Accidents…', and as a result much more focused, 'Iscariot the Ladder' more closely resembles the band you will see at a Murderbird’s gig – dark, twisted folk with catchy hooks, folk-influenced bass-lines and Crook’s bizarre but brilliant vocal style. Lupen Crook and the Murderbirds are one of many bands proving that the UK music scene has more up its sleeves than the Kooks and 18 different versions of the Libertines.

Track Listing:-

1 Cackle And The Crown
2 The Number Of Frames
3 Matthew's Magpie
4 Stag Head And Monster
5 Summer Time
6 Sympathy, Sunshine and The Catatonic Kiss ... Goodbye
7 Young Love
8 The Critic
9 Splits 'n' Differences
10 Lucky Six

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