Frogtoon Music

Bruiser (Album) by The Duke Spirit

Artist Biography For The Duke Spirit

The Duke Spirit Is A 4 Piece Band Based In London UK. Their Sound Incorporates Elements Of Blues-Rock Post-Punk And The Early Noise Rock And Grunge Bands Of The Late 80s And Early 90s Such As The Pixies. The Band Was Formed In London In 2003 By Liela Moss Vocals/tamborine/piano/harmonica Luke Ford Guitar/organ Toby Butler Bass And Olly Betts Drums . Dan Higgins Has Since Left The Band Amicably. He Has Not Been Permanently Replaced Instead The Band Have Worked With Various Close Friends On Their '08 - '09 Tours. Currently Marc Sallis Is The Touring Bass Player.

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: Bruiser

The Duke Spirit Are A Band You Want To Root For Blessed As They Are With An Alluring Frontwowan Liela Moss And Good Taste Drawing On Everything From 1980s UK Indie To Northern Soul To Murder Ballads But Also A Willingness To Burnish Those Outsider Sources With A Considerable Sass And Swagger To Bring The Masses On-Side. And Yet The Masses Have Been Mostly Resistant To Their Charms-- The London Group First Surfaced In 2005 In The Shadow Of The Similarly Seedy But More Widely Celebrated Kills While The Ensuing Years Have Seen Upstart Acts Like The Joy Formidable Emerging With More Bombastic Attention-Grabbing Takes On Shared Noise-Pop Influences. The Title Of The Duke Spirit's Third Album Would Suggest They're Tired Of Being Relegated To Second-Class NME Citizenry And Ready To Show The Kids Who's Boss. But Bruiser-- Produced By Alt-Rock Spit-Shiner Andrew Scheps-- Feels Oddly Restrained As The Band Sounds Caught Between The Duelling Desires To Hold Onto Its Grit-Rock Roots And To Make Its Sound More Sophisticated. The Duke Spirit Have Always Attempted A Tricky Balancing Act In Their Music--Between The Classic And The Modern The Dissonant And The Accessible The Decadent And The Elegant-- But Sometimes You Wish They'd Forsake This Mode Of Controlled Tension And Give In To More Extreme Tendencies. Early Singles "Love Is An Unfamiliar Name" And "Cuts Across The Land" Weren't Exactly Textbook-Definition Ragers But They Still Possessed A Certain Thrust Swing And Vigor By Contrast Bruiser Salvos "Cherry Tree" And "Procession" Are Set To Lumbering Mid-Tempo Backbeats That Don't Provide The Band With Much Opportunity To Catch Fire And Push The Duke Spirit Perilously Close To Run-Of-The-Mill Mid-2000s Modern Rock. The Pomped-Up Power Ballad "Northbound" Doesn't Do Them Any Favors In That Regard Either Sounding A Few Years Too Late For An O.C. Prom-Scene Placement. But If Bruiser's More Straightforward Rock Turns Mostly Disappoint One Notable Exception The Late-Game Adrenaline Shot "Everybody's Under Your Spell" The Album Does Find The Band Showcasing Its Dynamic Range In New And Intriguing Ways From The Winning "Villain"-- The Sort Of Sly Piano-Rolled Lullaby Nina Persson Might've Brought To A Latter-Day Cardigans Or A Camp Record-- To "Sweet Bitter Sweet" A Solitary Blues That Blossoms Into A Theatrical Show-Stopper. Best Of All Is "Bodies" Which Makes Great Use Of A Stalking Bassline And Moss' Reverbed Voice To Set A Grimly Atmospheric Scene The Creeping Unease Eventually Manifesting Itself Into A Powerful Almost Stoner-Metalesque Surge. It's A Rare Instance Where Bruiser Lives Up To Its Titular Threat But Given This Album's Near-50/50 Split Between Chugging Rockers And Elaborate Downcast Balladry It's Safe To Say That At This Point The Duke Spirit Are Becoming Ever More Interested In Cataloguing Emotional Wounds As Leaving Physical Ones.