A Larum | 
| Artist: Johnny Flynn
Label: Lost Highway
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $1.82
You Save: $8.16 (82%)
New (46) Used (27) from $1.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 6530
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001143302
UPC: 602517611306
EAN: 0602517611306
ASIN: B0013KJAQ6
Release Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | The Box | | • | The Wrote & The Writ | | • | Tickle Me Pink | | • | Brown Trout Blues | | • | Eyeless In Holloway | | • | Shore To Shore | | • | Cold Bread | | • | Wayne Rooney | | • | Leftovers | | • | Sally | | • | Hong Kong Cemetry | | • | Tunnels | | • | All The Dogs Are Lying Down | | • | Shore To Shore - reprise |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Lost Highway debut album from British singer songwriter, Johnny Flynn. Flynn's music is brimming over with heart, soul and intelligence. Drawing on diverse influences - The Pixies, Vaughn Williams and anti-folk pioneer Dianne Cluck are all name checked on his Myspace page - Johnny draws on a century's worth of Folk, Blues and Country to create a sound that dwells profoundly in the now.
Acknowledging his debt to these musical traditions but never being overwhelmed by them, Johnny Flynn offers an alternative of substance to those who have grown sick of flimsy singer songwriters and their inane observations. A Larum was recorded deep in the Seattle countryside with producer Ryan Hadlock (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) at his secluded Bear Creek studio. Here they managed to capture the raw energy of Johnny Flynn's shows, underpinning the acoustic guitar, cello and ukulele with muscular drums and bass. Johnny Flynn Photos
Album Description
UK pressing of the 2008 debut album from the British singer songwriter. Johnny Flynn's music is brimming over with heart, soul and intelligence. Drawing on diverse influences - The Pixies, Vaughn Williams and anti-folk pioneer Dianne Cluck are all name checked on his Myspace page - Johnny draws on a century's worth of Folk, Blues and Country to create a sound that dwells profoundly in the now. Acknowledging his debt to these musical traditions but never being overwhelmed by them, Johnny Flynn offers an alternative of substance to those who have grown sick of flimsy singer songwriters and their inane observations. He spent much of the autumn deep in the Seattle countryside recording this album with producer Ryan Hadlock (The Gossip, The Strokes, Regina Spektor) at his secluded Bear Creek studio. Here they managed to capture the raw energy of Johnny Flynn's shows, underpinning the acoustic guitar, cello and ukulele with muscular drums and bass. 14 tracks. Mercury.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Quality folky album September 20, 2008
I'm reviewing this disk for my college radio station. I'm reminded of early Incredible String Band, The Pogues, The Mekons and Chumbawamba. Songs are clever, warm, soulful and spirited.
 High expectations dashed. September 16, 2008
Pedestrian writing and execution will see this muddled, cliche ridden record lost among the pack of - actually - forward thinking anti-folk acts that are making their mark on music. This record means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things.
YOUR HALO BETTER GLEAM September 8, 2008
The Dylan mixed with Shakespeare comparison is pretty obligatory here and there's a certain familiarity to the album even on first listening. But it's also a rather compulsive listenability. Heck, he even makes a single named for a soccer player, Wayne Rooney, sound good.
Given the down-and-out persona that Mr. Flynn adopts for his viewpoint in most of the songs, another comparison that comes to mind is Alan-a-Dale by way of Boxcar Willie. If you want to let it, you could be bothered by the fact that a middle class white British actor and former choirboy is singing about being a hobo. But if you once give "The Box" a try I bet you give it another:
A delightful surprise August 25, 2008
I bought "A Larum" solely based on a magazine review, because I thought it sounded intriguing and I was in the mood for something completely different. How lucky can you get when you buy a pig in a poke! I started listening and haven't stopped -- it's that fascinating. The layerings and combinations of guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, cello, accordion, harmonica, all remind me partly of early Poco, partly of Irish folk, partly of back-porch music such as used to be collected by folk musicologists, as do the slightly stretched and sometimes off-key vocals -- all of which make the music feel unaffected, not over-produced. Then the 12-string I caught sneaking around teased at my memory until I finally recalled Leo Kottke, an all-time favorite. Also, Johnny Flynn's lyrics are as wryly observant as Kottke's, while his imagery is more pictorial and quirky ("I'm a fox and you're a burrow" -- fabulous!). I'm still listening to the lyrics of each song to untie all the subtleties. Johnny Flynn's internet bio says he's an actor, poet and songwriter -- an understatement; he's a prodigy. I'm no critic and rarely even listen to the radio, but if this group keeps on like they've started, we're in for a completely refreshing experience. Can't wait for the next!
A smart, heartfelt, folk album. August 22, 2008
For starters, I just gotta say that Johnny Flynn is a heck of a guitarist. Not that you get a bunch of fancy solos or anything on this album, but he does way more than strum chords, its some truly beautiful playing.
The whole album is rather beautiful. Its very much a collection of folk music, at least as folk as one can get without sounding too nostalgic or musically conservative in the 2000's. Good folk music is affecting too, it transmits some sort of emotional impact to the listener. In that respect, "A Larum" is a good folk album. The musicianship is uniformly beautiful and some songs are quite energetic, the melodies float by nicely, and Flynn has a nice, resinous singing voice. The whole album has an attractive looseness too, nothing seems overly tight or rehearsed (though nothing seems sloppy either).
Lyrically its a little bit of a mixed bag, most of the lyrics are solid, but occasionally some songs cave from being too homespun and folksy sounding ("Leftovers" for example).
Still, even though it looses a bit of steam towards the end (the slower songs towards the end really seem to drag), its a well performed, heartfelt folk album. Four stars.
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