Last Harbour - Saint Luminous Bride

  by John Clarkson

published: 26 / 5 / 2009

Label: Little Red Rabbit Records
Format: 10"

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Superbly-packaged and turbently beautiful vinyl only single from Manchester-based alt. country/alt. folk collective Last Harbour

Manchester-based alt. country/alt. folk collective Last Harbour have always made each of their EP releases special, and ‘Saint Luminous Bride’, their latest, is no exception. Their last CD EP, ‘My Knowen Foe’, came out last year within a few weeks of their third and best album, ‘Dead Fires and the Lonely Spark’, and consisted entirely of songs recorded at the same time as that LP, but which did not make its final cut. The title track of their latest EP, ‘Saint Luminous Bride’, did appear on the album. Other than on download, this new EP is, however, is only available on ten inch vinyl in a limited version of just 350 copies which features a beautiful sleeve design by singer Kev Craig, each copy of which has been individually numerated and screenprinted by hand. A skewed piece of dark country noir ‘Saint Luminous Bride’, like much of the rest of ‘Dead Fires and the Lonely Spark’, is almost heart stopping in its turbulence. Sarah Kemp and James Youngjohns’ doom-laden violin and viola sear in and out of the mix. David Armes’ and Michael Doward’s creeping, insistent guitar and bass lines brood steadily upwards, while Craig’s Gothic-toned and treacly baritone vocals tell of the allegiances made and broken at a deranged wedding party from hell. The other three tracks on the EP are all also leftovers from ‘Dead Fires and the Lonely Spark’, and have more of an Eastern European and Slavic tinge than the other songs that made the album. ‘The Rifleman and the Bird’ is a drone-fuelled funereal folk piece. The seven minute ‘Brothers’ starts off as a dream and trance-like number, and then surges into a Russian waltz. A final and brief string-strewn instrumental,‘Hewn’, closes the EP on a point of mournful beauty. ‘Saint Luminous Bride’ is a record of intense quality from an unique and always consistently reliable band. It both ties off the ‘Dead Fires and Lonely Fires’ sessions and also fills the long gap for their small, but enthusiastic fan base before their fourth album will come out hopefully later in the year.

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