Louise McVey and Cracks In The Concrete -‘Love Lust Tales’ (Flying Teeth Records)
Come on in. Sit down, and admire the gloom and the cobwebs.
Is that a shiver down your spine?
Are you –quite sure– that you’re not alone?
Are you sitting rather unnervedly? Then Louise McVey and Cracks In The Concrete will begin.
I make no apologies for the theatrics. Shut your eyes. This is music to unsettle, and thrill you. No schlocky horror here, but think PJ Harvey circa To Bring You My Love, Carla Buzolich’s work as Evangelista, Kate Bush when she’s at her most chilling (more ‘Infact Kiss’ than ‘Rubberband Girl.’) ‘Let me dream, let me dream,’ she sings on ‘Your Skies’. These are dreams are the most fantastical of nightmares.
It’s gothic as distinct from goth rock, less Sisters Of Mercy and more Great Expectations and The Turn Of The Screw. It’s deeply disturbing musically, not least because of its freeness. With the discordance here, you can imagine a major A&R sucking their teeth and going ‘I don’t hear a single.’
…But: did you hear that? Was that a crack in the floorboards on the album or somewhere else?
One of the most original, unsettling and creative records you’re likely to hear this year.
****
Love Lust Tales is released on Flying Teeth Records on June 15.