I only found this band recently, and I am absolutely delighted with this album. Delight is probably the right word for the music as well, which simply leaks loveliness into your life as if it had an infinite supply to spread around. It’s somewhat fitting that the last song should be called Charm School too, seeing as that is a lesson Porlolo could teach you in their sleep.
Porlolo have quite a lot in common with the likes of Laura Viers and other thoughtful, slightly introverted acoustic campfire ladies. That’s a slightly glib stereotype, but particularly in the vocals I can hear a real ‘type’ here, I just can’t quite figure out how best to describe it.
A month or so ago, when I first wrote about them, I posted two song which I didn’t realise were actually from this album, although Turning on Heels went by a different name back then. The feel of the record is a little different from the vibe you’d pick up from just those two songs though. There’s more hush, more tension, more cinema in the record, and less folky prettiniess. Reverbed guitar undercurrents growl away at the back of songs like I Don’t Know, bringing just a little crunchiness to an album that is otherwise delivered with a very light touch indeed.
This kind of stain on such an immaculately lovely fascia gives the album a bit of depth which I rather like. Definitely worth investigating.
Porlolo - Turning on Heels
Porlolo - I Know, I Know
MySpace | More mp3s | Buy the album from CDBaby (it’s not live yet, but hopefully will be in the next couple of days).
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Girls are sexy things, aren’t they? I’m feeling quite seduced after listening to that!
There’s a lovely syncopation to the way the singer delivers the lyrics that runs through both songs, and her voice, though familiar and similar to other ladies in this field, is quite entrancing.
(And, boy, would I love to be in a field with some of these ladies… swoon…)
Ahem - anyway! If I have to criticise, and I usually do, being as I’m pedantic prick, the electric guitar sound is a little muddy, and they could have benefitted from experimenting a little further in terms of instrumental arrangement. There’s a mute trumpet, and maybe a harmonium, in there somewhere that could have been given bigger headlines, but apart from that I’m pretty much sold on this…
Correction: That trumpet isn’t muted.
(See what I mean about being a pedantic prick?!)
Hey Dylan, stop picking on, erm, Dylan.
You know, for such a grumpy, gin soaked old Toad, you have a real soft spot for the ‘lovely music’.
Dylan, I don’t agree about the guitar (although, you’re right the trumpet is certainly not muted, you’re quite right), a bright, lively guitar wouldn’t really go with this ’sound. It’s heavy certainly but has twangs of old school country to it.
A little more trumpet is always a good idea though. Or violin.
These songs are gorgeous. I bought their earlier record on the strength of your first review and really enjoy it, but from these two tracks the new record sounds like a pretty substantial step forward.
Dylan’s got a point, though. Throughout these songs I keep thinking to myself, where’s the fucking stoneware jug? Where’s the fucking washboard solo? And most important of all, where’s the fucking duet with Christopher Denny?
And what’s the use of being a grumpy, gin soaked old Toad if you’ve nothing to cry to while imbibing?
Oops, I just leaked some loveliness onto my office chair.
You fucking pervert C&B. I hope poor Erin never reads as far as these bloody comments.
It’s alright, I have “an infinite supply to spread around.”