As unnerving as the album cover for Poor Creature’s latest release is, All Smiles Tonight is far from maudlin. Though it may kindle some tucked-away fear from youth, encountering objects of uniqueness and sinister quality, which would create long-running fear, it’s a facade. Beauty lies within. You have to dig deep as Poor Creature does on their debut album. You only get one first impression, and to lace it with country and Irish folk influences is as daring as it is a delight. All Smiles Tonight is a truly defiant piece of work from a trio who are sure to be accomplished the longer their debut album lingers. An album to take with you into the autumnal months. Yes, it was released in the summer. We’re a slow team of one, here. All Smiles Tonight is an album that grows into the isolation, the quiet, often experienced in that transition from summer to autumn.
But it’s not a seasonal album, despite it sounding like music ripped right from The Red Room. Instrumental flourishes and the growth of those brilliant spots, underscoring a brilliant, Ruth Clinton-led vocal line. This Lankum and Landless crossover works phenomenally well, not because of their shared interest in folk origins but because of the instrumental familiarity. It has cracked into a feeling which reaches far beyond recognisable tone. Adieu Lonely Erin is a tremendous opener, which sets the mood well, but the slow hum and gentle percussion of Bury Me Not go beyond anything else the album can offer. It captures the earliest years of a listener’s life, not the specifics, but the feeling inherently described in all those songs, suggesting they remember the days of old. A truly life-affirming experience. These are quietly confident materials from an overlap of two extraordinary bands.
The Whole Town Knows is a song which could wade through the waters of paranoia, though it is not until the instrumental break that this feeling comes through. But Poor Creature brings it back together for a sluggish, muddy song and dance, which makes for one of the many striking moments found within. All Smiles Tonight has that tough duty of darker tones, but rewarding, often inspiring highs. An Draighneán Donn brings that on. There is a soothing spot to these songs of confident, spiralling folk efforts. It’s a fine blur from the trio, whose accomplished work elsewhere feeds into this chase of history and origins. More artists are turning to the roots of their countries, to their past and personal history, to feed a whole new burst of folk music. It’s happening across the globe, and All Smiles Tonight is an essential part of this rise in folk and country.
Take a look at the likes of Henry Parker or Katie Spencer, for instance. There is a deeper connection with the small pockets of history lost to time. Those parts of the world which are not in the spotlight because they are not flash, new, or the grounds of some chart-topping notion. Seek out the likes of Foxes in the Snow from Jason Isbell or Lammas Fair from Henry Parker. What an artist lays on the line in reconnecting with genres of old is their musical clarity. It’s one thing to rock around the globe with chart-topping hits to back your trip, another entirely to find peace and persuasive tones in older forms. Album closer Willie-o from All Smiles Tonight is a staggering example of how folk remains a relevant genre, how the artists associated with it are moved by the strengths of home. Half the battle is creating an instrumental force which brings about a storytelling tone. Poor Creature succeeds with that.
