A Larum

Johnny Flynn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 2008)
• Original Release Date: July 29, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lost Highway
• ASIN: B0013KJAQ6
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,675 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The title, A Laurum, is Old English for "alarm," and certainly Johnny Flynn's debut is setting off bells. One of the guiding lights of Britain's folk revival, Flynn, 24 at the time of recording, is equal parts busking troubadour and past-century romantic poet. In 13 original songs, where he's backed by his band the Sussex Wit, Flynn muses on death, sex, God, and the wretched state of humanity, often with pointed wit and even sharper intelligence. Melding English/Irish folk songs, American blues, and influences as vast as the Pixies, Richard Thompson, the Pogues, Pentangle, and the literary sensibility of Henry David Thoreau and Shakespeare, he takes listeners on a spirited romp through vivid stories set in cemeteries, trash bins, and churches. The boy, it must be said, has a cheek, asking, on "Shore to Shore," "Jesus, won’t you please us, 'cos you seem a damn nice guy." Lacing his jangly, freewheeling songs with a gypsy's wagon of instruments, Flynn and company often seem like characters out of Chaucer, marking time and making the best of things before the inevitable Grim Reaper. Not to be missed: "The Box," "Hong Kong Cemetry" [sic], and "Leftovers." Simply smashing. -– Alanna Nash

Product Description

Lost Highway debut album from British singer songwriter, Johnny Flynn. Flynn's music is brimming over with heart, soul and intelligence. Drawing on diverse influences - The Pixies, Vaughn Williams and anti-folk pioneer Dianne Cluck are all name checked on his Myspace page - Johnny draws on a century's worth of Folk, Blues and Country to create a sound that dwells profoundly in the now.

Acknowledging his debt to these musical traditions but never being overwhelmed by them, Johnny Flynn offers an alternative of substance to those who have grown sick of flimsy singer songwriters and their inane observations. A Larum was recorded deep in the Seattle countryside with producer Ryan Hadlock (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) at his secluded Bear Creek studio. Here they managed to capture the raw energy of Johnny Flynn's shows, underpinning the acoustic guitar, cello and ukulele with muscular drums and bass.

Johnny Flynn Photos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, musical, and mature, July 25, 2008

By 

J. V. Lewis (secure undisclosed location) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Larum (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

I received this CD from Vine without expectations, not even aware of Flynn by name. I didn't listen to it for a couple of days, thinking the cover and inserts looked a bit overworked and pretentious. Then I put it in the stereo for a 4-hour drive and ended up playing it 4 times, back to back. The simple, folksy arrangements of guitar, banjo, fiddle, and cello are simultaneously loose, joyous, musical, and sophisticated. Harmonies are rich, straightforward, and as pretty as some of Gillian Welsh's best work. But the album keeps rewarding repeated listening because the playing never feels over-rehearsed or polished: it feels spontaneous and energetic, without contrivance or posing. I'm reminded of Robin Hitchcock, who always manages to stay real despite the complexity of his songs, a sign of great musicianship, I think. I am also very pleasantly reminded of Joe Strummer in his post-depression, self-aware, rejoicing Mescaleros period: perfectly rough and unrefined vocals that miss the notes just so, refuse to stay straight on the beat, and always communicate Flynn's enrgy and enthusiasm. This would be enough for a very listenable 4-star album, but Flynn and his band manage even more: several of these songs are truly brilliant, and the playing is spot-on, like a small live show on a great night. Intimate, energetic, musical, authentic, joyous. I haven't felt this much excitement for a new album in a long time.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contemporary caravan music, August 15, 2008

By 

Steve Ruskin (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Larum (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

Johnny Flynn is a modern gypsy (as are, apparently, his band the Sussex Wit--unless that's just the name of his mongrel gypsy dog). At least that's how 'A Larum' sounds: songs written by and about those playing on the road, in the Underground, in a field, under a bridge, under the stars. Best listened to while on a road trip, or tramping about with a rucksack. Use of this album anywhere near a discotheque will likely result in death by culture shock.

Flynn's unique voice and the often unusual guitar work give each song a character that sticks in the ears: no song-after-song-running-together here.

The cleverly suggestive "Leftovers" can best be described as rollicking, while some of the most poetic lyrics on the disc are found in "The Wrote & the Writ" ("I'll soon forget what was never there/Your words are ash and dust/All that's left is the song I've sung/The breath I've taken and the one I must").

But the pulse of the album is heard in "The Box," which not only starts the CD off but also contains most of the elements the rest of the songs tease out individually.

More, please.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Up and Down but he has the goods throughout, August 13, 2008

By 

Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Larum (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

Johnny Flynn is definitely a talent to keep an ear on. Would I have heard/bought this album had I not gotten it via the Vine program? Probably not. I'm glad I received it, though.

3 stars often seem to fool people. 3 stars isn't trashing something. I consider 3 stars appropriate for a good album. I consider this to be a 3-star album overall, with some great songs throughout, it's just a bit uneven.

Even now after however many listens, my main impression of this album is one of deja vu. I still cannot place the who or where, but there are moments throughout this cd that I feel I've heard before. I don't mean that in a bad way. I don't mean "derivative". I mean Flynn's voice... certain phrases and inflections are tapping on something inside me from 26 or 30 years ago. I get this intense feeling of blurry, impressionistic memories from when I was a little kid. For a guy his age, and considering that I think "white male lyricists/singer/songwriter types under 40 or 45" have churned out some of the most bland, forgettable, uninspired music EVER in the past 10 or 15 years, this hits me as being one heck of an album from this kid.

This is small music for small spaces. I think he'd die a slow death on stage in an arena, big amphitheater or stadium concert setting but would kill in a 200-year-old pub in Europe. I keep thinking of words like troubadour and minstrel with this album. Literate, 21st Century folk tales with heart.

Some of his songs are Jolie Holland-ish, though the album overall isn't at the Escondida, Catalpa or Springtime Can Kill You level.

One of the songs here is begging for the intensity of a Richard Thompson guitar solo but I'll let you figure out which one it is for yourself. 1 of the things that bothers me (though this didn't figure into my number of stars) is that there's alot of packaging but no lyrics. If you're going to write 14 songs with lyrics and include 2 little booklets of liner notes, somewhere there should be some lyrics. I haven't deciphered everything he's said yet, even on some of the songs I really like.

I'll definitely buy his next album or catch him in concert if he comes around. I'll still take Dandelions on Fire by Simone Massaron and Carla Bozulich over this (I can't figure out why it won't let me make a product link even though the cd is available here) but based on recent history, this is as good a collection of songs by a young white dude I've heard in ages. If I owned a record label, I'd have given him this shot, too. He could really grow into something powerful.