Phantom Limb

Spending much of Sunday afternoon in the pub is pretty decadent, and something I very rarely do, but I have to say that The Griffin is in my opinion the best pub in Frome, which has quite a few to choose from, and not least because it has its own on-site brewery. In this instance it was simply the music that clinched it!
This Bristol-based six-piece have been stirring up favourable comment since SXSW 2008, and thus a Glastonbury booking on the Jazz/World Stage, where their largely acoustic southern soul/blues caused quite a stir. It also resulted in a record deal with Irish label Naim Edge. The really impressive thing is their innate virtuosity. Their début album comprises only original compositions, recorded and mastered in Bristol and Monmouth, and was released on August 25, 2008. The vinyl release, also mastered and cut in Bristol, is to follow on September 15, 2008.

The Griffin was far too crowded to take any worthwhile photos, given that it is not huge and Phantom Limb are a six-piece band so that takes up space, but the music was quite amazing. Lead vocalist Yolanda Quarty also provides about half the vocals on the forthcoming Massive Attack album, and has toured worldwide with the same, but trip-hop this is not and they could well lose her to this project, for which she also writes the majority of the lyrics, simply because her voice and the musicians suit the material so well.

The band is something approaching a Bristol 'super-group' and it seems oddly fitting that one of Bristol's premier music venues is a pub called The Louisiana. Check out the album:

1. Don't Say A Word
2. Withering Bones
3. I'll Never Be The Same
4. My Love Has Gone
5. Playing With Death
6. Run
7. Good Fortune
8. We Will Carry
9. Spring Flowers
10. The Hard Way

This is the track list but I couldn't tell you which ones that I like most as I simply haven't decided yet, and when I do I'll probably change my mind.