Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike

Sky Larkin's debut album, The Golden Spike, sounds like it has been carved from the earth, its rough-hewn guitar lines rising and swelling with an elemental power. The Leeds trio manage to wring a sound from their instruments that's extremely original: the nearest comparison might be The Breeders' sun-drenched, multi-layered Last Splash married to the rolling might of mid-period Throwing Muses. Yet, while drawing inspiration from the Deal-Hersh-Donelly school of swoon-and-sawdust vocals, frontwoman Katie Harkin is a different proposition. Rather than trying to master or transcend the giddying changes in her band's rugged musical landscape, Harkin lets them carry her away. The directness of her vocals lends the record its immediate charm; however, this emotional nakedness can become slightly wearing after several listens.

On standouts such as Antibodies, though, the varying elements of Sky Larkin's style coalesce to become something quite staggering: a sound that's a force of nature, pulling the listener through moods we can't quite put our finger on and leaving us altered afterwards. The Golden Spike is, then, a debut that shows promise for the future but that, most importantly, offers plenty of its own accord. [Gillian Watson]