Sky Larkin - Fossil, I

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 16 Oct, 2008.

Leeds' Sky Larkin are a breezy indie band with pretty cracking songs that bristle with potential. The singers strong, swooping voice is similar to that lassie out of Blood Red Shoes but I prefer their songs, more tripped out with a guitar sound that reminds me of Crowsdell or The Spinanes. Phil suggests Velocity Girl & Jale too. Basically they sound a little like an old Sub Pop indie band from the early 90's but with a wide eyed British lassie on vocals, a little spiky, slightly dreamy but with a dynamic urgency that belies their home made feel. Erm...it sounds like i'm reviewing the forthcoming album doesn't it? Well, you'll have to wait for that one. 'Fossil, I' is their first for Wichita, a label who've signed some stormers recently and is 7" only on White vinyl. Packaging looks like the last Plaid album or summat, well designers republic!

Refusing to be musically pigeonholed or viewed as a provincial concern, there’s a timeless, international scope to newcomers Sky Larkin, echoing the likes of The Breeders, Violent Femmes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. To compare Sky Larkin directly to any singular band or record however would be doing the trio a grave injustice.
Sky Larkin are Katie Harkin (vocals and guitar), Doug Adams (bass) and Nestor Matthews (drums). The band began life with long time friends and school mates Katie and Nestor rehearsing in bedrooms and garages before adding Doug to their ranks. From then on, their ascent has been rapid and exhilarating.
With a stark non-UK centric outlook, the band chose to spread their wings and record their debut album as far from the UK as Seattle, Washington. Honed by the skills of legendary producer John Goodmanson (Sleater Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf), they’ve created an ageless record that is punchy and razor sharp yet layered, intriguing and complex.
Much of the credit for this can be put down to the fascinating stories and similes that surround their record, due out January 2009. 2008 however, sees the release of Sky Larkin’s first full single release 'Fossil, I' and a pair of European tours with Conor Oberst and Los Campesinos! Respectively. The debut single is a tumultuous, melodic eruption of guitars exhibiting Katie’s muscular vocals:
“It was written in this old, higgledy piggeldy library - I was reading about land artists and the properties of the materials they used to make art with. People are really used to digging down through the earth and reading something's age through its layering. I realised on the top side of the earth we do the exact same thing and layer ourselves up - from the bottom floor to the head honcho in the penthouse. On another level, it's about finding freedom - either through being encased in the earth, or simply just escaping out of the doldrums" Katie, singer.
Sky Larkin will also be performing shows with both Hot Club de Paris and Swedes Those Dancing Days. Recently, the band returned to the United States to play hugely acclaimed shows in New York and to record the extraordinary video for their forthcoming debut single.

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