Qulture Magazine

Words: Niamh Leiper

As far as venues go, Glasgow’s O2 Academy is like a femme fatale in a slightly misogynistic noir film: beautiful, but cold. Whether that’s because it’s October in Scotland; or because the building was originally a church; or because I was standing directly under an air vent – it’s anyone’s guess.

I was wondering why music venues don’t sell soup as well as pints when the lights went down, and warm red-orange light filled the stage. This wasn’t a case of a similarly cold person turning to arson in desperation, it was the setup of Son Little – the artist supporting Larkin Poe. His vocals matched his lighting choices, a soft yet intense heat that did the exact (if clichéd) job of “warming up the crowd”. As his brief set went on -a varied selection of rhythm and blues- I stopped mentally Googling the symptoms of hypothermia and became fully immersed in the performance.

When the time came for Larkin Poe to take to the stage, it was clear there was a theme. Their walk-on music switched from Where Have All the Flowers Gone? To I Never Promised You a Rose Garden And then Smell the Flowers. Even their stage lights took the shape of neon flowers. Yep, definitely a theme. The tour is in celebration of their latest album “Bloom”, and while it’s easy to be taken in by the flower-y imagery, the fast launch into hardcore guitar reminds the audience that it’s a powerhouse they’ve come to see.

This isn’t the first time they’ve played the O2, the duo were here exactly two years ago, only on that occasion, they were a supporting act. Now, they have complete control of the stage and exercise that power by leading the audience in a group scream that serves as an intro to their opening song “Nowhere Fast”. Funnily enough, the song is quick with a lively tempo – and yet both performers move seamlessly. Their natural stage presence and ease with which they share it can be chalked up to the fact that the pair are sisters. The family dynamic comes across not only in their on-stage interactions but also in their music, creating complimentary harmonies that made me glad my mam wasn’t around to comment on the success I could’ve shared with my own sister, if either of us had bothered to cultivate any musical talent.

“Bloom” plays on the idea of growth and change – from going from support to selling out that same arena. The songs they play from the album are big, bold, love letters to their work, both personal and professional. In “Easy Love”, Rebecca Lovell sings to her partner, who she welcomed a baby with only 10 weeks ago – before belting out “Bluephoria”, filling the entire high-ceilinged room with powerful vocals. As someone who gets a sore back around the 45-minute mark of a gig, I found myself with a new appreciation for the seemingly effortless performance I was witnessing.

Roots are another, more subtle, idea on the “Bloom” tour. Born in Georgia, the sisters pay tribute to their Southern heritage. In a year of Yee-Ha revival (think Chappell Roan’s The Giver and CMAT’s latest album), Larkin Poe feels like something distinct. While they have face-melting guitar riffs and keyboard-shredding solos, they’re not afraid to let their vocals speak for themselves. They switch adrenaline for acoustic guitar in more intimate moments of the set, featuring fiddle, double bass, and even banjo on tracks such as “Southern Comfort” and their Bluegrass cover of their song “Little Bit”.

Despite the change in pace, the crowd remained engaged, whether that was through the full-room silence during “Mad as a Hatter” (a song about both family and mental illness), to the participatory singing during “Devil Music”. I know I did my fair share of screaming when they used a cover of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs as a clever segway into their own song “God is a Woman”. That’s what struck me most about this gig: the flow. Larkin Poe were able to craft a performance that not only highlighted the technical skill of their album, but one that was also able to tell the album’s story – the themes, ideas and emotions that were the seeds of the songs, and the journey of growth that saw them performed on stage. For their encore they played “Bloom Again”, an apt ending, with vocals that gave me chills – ones that I didn’t mind temperature-wise.