HOWL GRIFF – Fragile Diamond (LP – Dockrad Recs)
(review by neil crud)
It’s Saturday morning, the sun is shining then it rains, the boy is in his room killing zombies as Prodigy blast out. The girl is snoozing as Emmerdale replays its entire weekly drama in the form of an omnibus. Downstairs I’m washing up last nights curry and red wine as Howl Griff‘s third album plays out with an alt-indie, alt-country, alt-american-sixties-beat-combo, alt-rock attitude. This is the spice of Saturday morning life in the House of Crud.
Fragile Diamond is out now on Dockrad Records, a label run by Dave Lloyd who has to be commended for his staying power in a world of mp3-grabbing file-sharing freeloaders. Yes, I admit, I do the same but if I like it, I buy it. Try before you buy! And I would happily skip to my local independent record shop and buy a copy of this album (that’s a fucking long skip to Andy’s Records in Aberystwyth!!).
With skipping as subject matter, that’s exactly what Howl Griff do… Skip and weave their way through a bliss filled album, from the Pink (Floyd) tinged and tingling Meet My Maker to the radio friendly You Don’t Have To Leave On Your Own.
On a local comparison, there’s a lot of Soft Hearted Scientists and Blue Shark Experiment in there, which, when you consider they drink the same water, doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.
I’m more drawn to the sixties sounding tunes such as International Dateline, which is the perfect soundtrack as the sun glistens on the rain shodden path outside.
Howl Griff are not going to start a Radio Revolution and that is not their manifesto, but they will certainly brighten up your day.
(website) / Dockrad Records