Larkin Poe is a band who know how to stitch together an identity. They have gravitated from the roots-infused bluegrass-inspired Lovell sisters to a fully fledged electric outfit pile driving ornate-styled blues rock spiced with the organic tastes of the Deep South. Rebecca shreds a mean guitar and lifts the roof off venues with her soaring rock vocals. Megan plays a multitude of lap guitars with grit and guile applying posture and animation alongside backing and harmony vocals.
The band’s growth from playing the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham’s Kings Heath suburb in 2014 to almost selling out the large room of the city centre-located Institute eleven years later is a testimony to a smart evolution. Along the way they have accrued a rock audience but if you spend an hour and half watching the stage show they weave in so many influences. Larkin Poe is a sharp band reaching out far from a barrage of amped up electrification.
The Birmingham show was the latest stop on the Bloom tour. This is in support of an album released in January before later joined by a stripped back accompaniment showing the structural elegance of top songwriters. Plenty of the album featured in the early phase, and throughout, of a set extending just past the ninety-minute mark. ‘Mockingbird’, ‘Easy Love’ and ‘Bluephoria’ shone like amplified jewels as the band hit the volume button from the start.
Backing the Lovell sisters was a trio of musicians on keys, bass and drums. All you need to make good honest southern rock when a pair of quality pickers head the band. The five-piece merged into one for a priceless twenty-minute segment midway through the set when acoustic instruments and a single mic hushed a packed room. Megan politely quipped, “the audience would win in a sound battle.” During this four-song back-to-basics interlude ‘Little Bit’ from the new album stole the show in its raw form alongside a nod to the old Larkin Poe in ‘Mad as a Hatter’. Rebecca effortlessly switched between acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin as this tender part of the show ended with a nod to blues folklore and pleasing the locals with a homage to Ozzy.
This was the cue to return to the loud and robust rock style guiding the show to its encore. The nature of the evening kept Rebecca and Megan’s chat to a minimum but when added between songs it expressed the good place the band are in, namely making a style of music they love and fully embracing the love pouring from the floor.
Son Little opened the show in a trio format and brought a lighter yet wholly authentic bout of soulful blues to the evening. Hailing from Nashville, they showed the diverse nature of that city’s music scene playing an effective role in whetting the appetite for the main event.
Larkin Poe never lose that glint in the eye that has enthused fans around the world for fifteen years. Behind the southern rock facade forming the band’s present stance lies two Georgia siblings born to share the fruits of their harmonious talent. Birmingham (UK) felt privileged once again to host the Lovell sisters.
