Lankum – False Lankum

Name: Lankum - False Lankum | B Side Vinyl
Brand: Lankum
SKU: BSV-953914
Price: 38.99 USD
Availability: InStock

$38.99

Critically acclaimed Dublin doom folk quartet Lankum announced a new record today, False Lankum, out March 24, 2023 on Rough Trade Records. False Lankum follows their 2019 breakthrough album The Livelong Day, which paved the way for critical and commercial success, earning them that years RTE Choice Music Prize (the Irish equivalent of the Album of the Year Grammy) and the #8 spot on NPR Musics Best Albums of the Year list. Drawing on traditional folk songs, Lankum put their own dark, distinctive mark onto each, leaning into heavy drones and sonic distortion that imparts new intensity and beauty into every track. This record sees the band cement their breakout from the folk genre, creating bold, contemporary music that may be fashioned from traditional elements but is firmly new, sitting comfortably alongside Rough Trade labelmates like Black Midi and Gilla Band. False Lankum also features two original tracks, Netta Perseus and The Turn, both penned by the groups Daragh Lynch. Go Dig My Grave was discovered by Lankums Radie Peat who learned the particular version on the album from the singing of Jean Ritchie, who recorded it in 1963 on the album Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City. It is a member of a family of songs which seem to be largely made up of what are known as floating verses, originally composed as stanzas of various different ballads, some of which date back as far as the 17th century. From the start, Dublin’s Lankum planned for False Lankum, their fourth record and third for Rough Trade, to feel like a complete piece – a progression and a journey for the listener. “We wanted to create more contrast on the record so the light parts would be almost spiritual and the dark parts would be incredibly dark, even horror inducing,” they explain. The albums 12 tracks, composed of 10 traditional songs and two originals, show the four-piece using a new palate to color their sound in an increasingly experimental way, alongside longtime producer John Spud Murphy. “Artists such as Portishead and Brian Eno come to mind. An album of the year for me.” – Bob Boilen, NPR Music

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Record Details

Label	ROUGH TRADE
Catalog No	RT 392
Format	2× Vinyl LP
Country	United States
Barcode	0191402039214
Condition	New / Sealed

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LANKUM – FALSE LANKUM is one of the most striking records to come out of Dublin in years, a fourth album from a band who have spent nearly a decade reshaping what traditional Irish folk music can sound like and where it can go.

Who Lankum Are and Why This Record Matters

Lankum built their reputation slowly and seriously. Their 2019 album The Livelong Day broke them to a wider audience, earning the RTE Choice Music Prize, Ireland’s equivalent of Album of the Year, and landing at number eight on NPR Music’s best albums list for that year. That record announced a band willing to take traditional source material and pull it somewhere darker and more physically intense than most folk acts would dare. False Lankum, released March 24, 2023 on Rough Trade Records, is the follow-up that confirms that trajectory was not a fluke. It is their third record for Rough Trade and sits comfortably alongside label contemporaries like Black Midi and Gilla Band, which tells you something about the kind of ambition at play here.

LANKUM – FALSE LANKUM: The Sound and the Songs

The album’s 12 tracks include 10 traditional songs and two originals, both written by Daragh Lynch: Netta Perseus and The Turn. The band worked again with producer John Spud Murphy, and the record was conceived from the beginning as a complete listening journey, with deliberate contrast built in between passages of near-spiritual quiet and sections described by the band themselves as horror-inducing. Heavy drones, sonic distortion and an increasingly experimental approach to arrangement are the tools here. One specific highlight is Go Dig My Grave, a track sourced by Radie Peat from the singing of Jean Ritchie, whose 1963 recording on Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City provided the particular version Lankum drew from. That song belongs to a family of ballads assembled largely from floating verses, some with roots stretching back to the 17th century. The care taken in that kind of sourcing is typical of the band’s approach throughout. Bob Boilen of NPR Music named it his album of the year, citing Portishead and Brian Eno as reference points.

The Pressing: Catalog Details and Collector Notes

This is the standard LP pressing on Rough Trade Records, catalog number RT 392. Rough Trade pressings of this period are well regarded for quality and consistency, and this is the release that introduced the record to the world. For collectors focused on contemporary folk, experimental music, or the broader Rough Trade catalog, this is a straightforward and important addition. The album’s reputation has grown steadily since release, and physical copies carry the full weight of an album designed, explicitly, to be heard as a single uninterrupted statement. That intention is better served by vinyl than by any other format.