Album Review: Skinny Lister - "A Matter Of Life And Love"

 

This is the fifth album from Xtra Mile folk punk stalwarts Skinny Lister - they're a band who I'll admit to being something of a recent convert to after Frank Turner gave them a shout-out a couple of years ago but I've liked the couple of albums of theirs that I've heard.

Compared to the likes of the Levellers or the Pogues (who, let's be honest, tend to be the obvious templates for this sort of music), Skinny Lister are a bit of a more gentle proposition with cheery odes to road life (Like It's The First Time) mingling with criticisms of toxic masculinity (Tough Stuff Like Us). Oh sure, there's the odd spark of energy like the ska-influenced ode to unfriendly customs men Bavaria Area and the pacy Life At At A Loose End which has an almost flamenco feel to it. They also dip into Pogues style territory on the a capella sea shanty God Damn The Amsterdam and the barrelling Breakfast At Heathrow but mostly this is gentle odes to drinking (Embers), friendship (Shoulder To Shoulder) and all the other things you'd expect from such an album.

A Matter Of Life And Love is a perfectly pleasant alt-folk album but I just kind of wish it had a little bit more of a kick to it. Possibly I went into it with the wrong expectations but a bit of that sort of bite that groups like the Roughneck Riot and Ferocious Dog have would have maybe crowned this off a bit better. Still, it's a decent, if somewhat placid, album with good musicianship and a decent smattering of good tunes so well worth a look for aficionados of the genre.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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