Locks - Skeletal Blues (2018)

LOCKS to release debut album…

They have been called smoky, cinematic, and ghostly. DJ Steve Lamacq calls them simply "mesmerising". They’re a four-piece based in North London. Together they are LOCKS. Together they are mesmerising. Singer-guitarist Locks Geary-Griffin sings lullabies of a sort, accompanied by two wise men and one wise woman — Mike Byrne (double bass), Andrew Marvell (drums) and Marian McClenaghan (fiddle). 'Skeletal blues' is the name they give their sound and their debut album.

Whatever you call it, the music is delicious, infectious, almost other-worldly. “It’s dark and jaunty, the lyrics focus on the unnerving parts of life we all encounter, the bits people try to ignore in themselves or that consume them…it’s meant to shake you and unsettle you,” says Locks Geary-Griffin. It’s in the rhythmic guitar, the percussive playing of stringed instruments, experimental drum sounds, and those lullabies of a sort.

A hint of the macabre joins the sheer enjoyment of words, meanings and sound. Darker undercurrents combine with fables, folktales, urban myths and a wonderful playfulness. Here are stories of gin drinkers dancing with the damned, bodies buried in the backyard and secrets whispered into the night. One writer puts it rather well: “[LOCKS] masterfully weave eerie alt-folk with suspenseful blues rock, which they call skeletal blues”.

“I write the lyrics and guitar parts first, then record onto my phone and send it round to everyone who adds their parts on top in a layering process to create the sound. The main themes are usually dark and macabre. If there’s a beautiful garden, we are the scarecrow in that garden,” reveals Locks Geary-Griffin.

Locks Geary-Griffin grew up in the small Derbyshire village of Diseworth. Starting as a solo singer-songwriter, Locks collaborated with other musicians across Portsmouth, Manchester and Bristol, before settling in London. LOCKS (the band) formed in 2016, when Locks met Mike Byrne, after posting an ad for a double bassist. They bonded over a mutual fascination with music, film and books. Mike grew up in Dublin, Ireland and previously played electric bass in rock and Celtic punk bands, later making the switch to upright bass.

Tracklist:
01. Locks - Bodies
02. Locks - Skeletons
03. Locks - Skin
04. Locks - Mirrors
05. Locks - In The City
06. Locks - Devil And Me
07. Locks - The Chase
08. Locks - Toes
09. Locks - White Tape (Angel Maker)
10. Locks - Laveau