The Duke Spirit - Neptune

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Three years ago, debut album Cuts Across The Land introduced us to The Duke Spirit. An endurance-sapping tour and bust-up with their record label ensued and they subsequently decamped to Joshua Tree, California, to emerge with new album Neptune. Whilst they haven’t exactly reinvented themselves à la U2, their time in the States clearly hasn’t been wasted. Tracks like ‘Lasoo’ and ‘The Step And The Walk’ have a swaggering confidence to them, as we see the band start to subtly experiment with a broader, more expansive sound, using horns and strings to complement their self-described “pure rock and roll” approach. As you might expect, Queens of the Stone Age producer Chris Goss captures the ferocious guitars with ease but it’s Liela Moss’s vocals that really stand out. She’s perfectly framed by the Sixties pop-soul of ‘My Sunken Treasure’, which hints at a promising future if the spirit is willing. Stewart McCullough

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DOWNLOAD: ‘THE STEP AND THE WALK’, ‘MY SUNKEN TREASURE’.
FOR FANS OF: PJ HARVEY, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, THE KILLS.

Issue #52 - Very Bro-some

Featuring Panama Kings, ASIWYFA, an investigation into DIY touring, details of what over 25 of the finest NI bands are up to in 2009 and much more.