Liam Frost and The Slowdown Family - 'The Mourners of St. Paul's' (La Volta) Released 05/06/06

It starts as a compelling but standard slice of glum singer-songwriterdom, wherein the battered protagonist finds himself at a funeral, stuck in a boozy rut, cataloguing his numerous regrets and generally wasting away his life, his mood about as cheery as the mournful violin that adds wailing variety to the softly strummed guitar and Liam Frost’s weathered croon. But things take an unexpectedly exhilarating turn as the Slowdown Family belie their unhurried moniker by switching gears into a gentle gallop, Frost’s appealing yelp growing more and more anguished as the majestic music swells, kicks, pummels and tramples potently enough to turn this into a provincial take on the National’s claustrophobic metropolitan angst opus ‘Alligator’ or Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds in an uncharacteristically folky mood. The solo acoustic B-sides are good, too, but fade into the insignificance next to the excellence of the lead track. More please!