Lankum - False Lankum

There’s nothing twiddly dee about the Irish music performed by Lankum. Yes, there are fiddles and uileann pipes. But the Dublin-based group—Radie Peat, Cormac MacDiarmada and brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch—favour darker, more subversive Celtic sounds, opting for traditional murder ballads along with original tales about modern-day horrors. Like a bleaker Pogues, Lankum revel in gothic intensity on “Go Dig My Grave” and “The New York Trader.” But there’s also beauty amid the darkness, especially on “Newcastle” and the delicate “Clear Away in the Morning.” Mixing ambient textures with eerie drones, Lankum cooks up an intoxicating brew.