The Great Malarkey
Album: Badly Stuffed Animals
Label: Clearcut
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.thegreatmalarkey.com

As well as the trend back to proper instruments, there also seems to have been a move back to bigger bands, not that folk music has ever been short of its bigger ensembles. The Great Malarkey clock up a band count of seven and a sound that has more in common with the likes of the Pogues and Hoedown At Hanks, than the likes of Bellowhead, there is certainly a lot more of a cowpunk/steampunk attitude in both writing style and delivery.

"The Case Of The Badly-Stuffed Animals" shortened to "The Badly Stuffed Animals" for the sleeve also fuses in ska/bluebeat and not a little bit of Gypsy jazz to the sound. Rough and ready chants and harmonies give the whole a slightly drunken hedonistic atmosphere. Add in a left wing agenda that rages against the injustice of twenty first century Britain and you have a really heady, volatile mixture, one you feel could flare at any given point and it frequently does.

Lead singer Alex Ware orchestrates the whole nought to sixty experience with a real intensity, where you get the feeling that the odd slow song is only used to allow the band to get its breath back, rather than a real desire to slow the pace.

There is a real energy to the Great Malarky, you get the impression of a band that's living on the edge and that wants to ensure that being on the fringe doesn't mean that you can be ignored and neglected. This is real spit and sawdust stuff, with a few bloodstains still to soak in. "The Case Of The Badly-Stuffed Animals" comes at you kick, screaming and spitting. It's an absolute firecracker of an album and I defy you not to enjoy it!

Neil King