Duke Garwood has a pretty cool CV: he played guitar on UK
electronica godfathers the Orb’s debut album, has provided woodwinds to folks
as disparate as the Archie Bronson Project and Savages, and even worked with
famed artist Shezad Dawood on a continuation of the “Dream Machine” project
that the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones started and subsequently abandoned in
1968. Garwood is probably best known on
these shores, however, for “Black Pudding”, a 2013 album he made in conjunction
with Mark Lanegan (himself no stranger to left-field collaborations!). That album pitted Lanegan’s whisky growl
against Garwood’s more honeyed rasp to great effect, and it’s this record that “Heavy
Love” uses as a jumping off point.
It’s easy (and reductive), to compare Garwood with Lanegan –
both favor slow burn atmospherics over straight up “rocking” and share a
certain low rumble in their register – but where Lanegan breathes the blues,
Garwood has more of a soul man’s cadence.
Most songs find him wrapping his voice around spindly finger-picked
guitar lines, delivering mantras like “make me strong, make me strong, snake
honey from your tongue” like a man possessed.
Album standout, “Disco Lights”, finds him dueting with Savages’ Jehnny
Beth to stunning affect – guitar lines tangling together and heading skyward,
while centerpiece "Sweet Wine” could be mistaken for a lost Richard
Buckner song. “Heavy Love” is full of
such delicately and finely rendered moments.
It’s an album that could only be made by someone with a musical pedigree
this developed, and a nice second step for anyone who came aboard looking for
the next Lanegan.
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