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The Duke Spirit

Smoldering (or perhaps smouldering, as The Duke Spirit are from London...) lyrics shoved and mauled and torn apart by a smoky-voiced, hollerin' chanteuse? Check. Red-hot blues licks? Check. Occasional dissonant and droning guitar bits tied up with a tight, tight rhythm section? Check, check, check. With all of the above in play, how could I not be drawn to this band?

I won't resort, as I've seen some writers do, to comparing the band to Blondie -- this is completely irrelevant. Yes, frontwoman Leila Moss is blonde and reportedly (but we'll soon know for ourselves) has a swaggering stage presence and commands a roost of four boys (Luke Ford on guitar, keys, and backup vocals; Dan Higgins, also on guitar; Toby Butler on bass; and Ollie Betts behind the kit) but the similarities end there. Taking cues from recent sexy, dirty blues-heavy rockers The Kills (who we covered last year), The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and SYITP faves The Gossip -- as well as the early work of PJ Harvey that's now nearly 15 years old, the bands' songs are delightfully moody and loveworn, covering the gamut of emotional levels from bitchy rave-ups to dark laments on unrequited love.

The Duke Spirit's been cropping up on to-watch lists in the UK since 2003, and thanks to a new deal with NYC's Startime Records (most notably home of The Walkmen, Tom Vek, Dios (Malos), and The French Kicks), they're poised to do the same in the US. So get ready -- you heard it here first-ish.

The Duke Spirit - Win Your Love
The Duke Spirit - Bottom of the Sea

The Duke Spirits' official site. Their debut album, Cuts Across the Land, is available from Amazon and the iTunes Music Store. In addition to their showcase at Maggie Mae's on Saturday, March 18th, the band is playing a number of free shows out and about during the course of SXSW -- including those infamous Urban Outfitters sets. Nothing like seeing a hot band play next to a swimsuit display.

shadows tags:thedukespirit

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 03.11.06 at 10:42 PM

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See You in the Pit is an MP3 blog exclusively featuring artists who will be playing the SXSW Music Festival, because the best way to learn about music is to hear it. This weblog will self destruct on March 22nd. You have been warned.

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