Thursday, August 30, 2007


Inneke23 & The Lipstick Painters – Elephant Crossing (CoraZong Records).

This is the debut album from Belgian singer/songwriter Inneke23 and her Alt. country band The Lipstick Painters. Inspired by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash and The Jayhawks she has embraced the Alt. country ethos with great verve. They open with Guitar Jesus, a rootsy, solid, happy start and follow it up with the quirky title track on which and banjo (Jimmy Stelling) & fiddle (Buni Lenski) combine to produce a bouncy offering. Fairy Girl is slow and still has that Americana feel despite the use of cornet, played by the wonderfully named Jon Birdsong. It’s Still Raining is more up-tempo in parts and is another quirky one with good harmonies. Neil Young (Harvest period) comes to mind on Oh Sister, although it is a Bob Dylan song – I’m off to get my guitar and play along. The punk influenced Hatesong is angst ridden but with a lot of humour as well.

Purple And Blue is mountain music and a short barn dance to boot. Trojan Horse is slow and moribund but it does creep up on you. Lucinda Williams’ I Envy The Wind is a simple piano ballad but the gap in the middle makes it feel as if you are off into another track. The second phase is more up-tempo with a guitar solo thrown in. O.V.E.R. is old style country/mountain music with top class harmonies and just a little underlying aggression. The Fairy Man has a banjo and drum beginning and is as roots are you are likely to get, hee-ha! Closes with Waiter Of Your Sleep is slow and eerie. Just float off until the end.

http://www.inneke23.be/
http://www.corazong.com/

David Blue.

2 comments:

slÖ said...


fairy girl inneke23


greetings from antwerp

David Blue said...

Greetings from Scotland. Hope you liked the review.