The Duke Spirit "Hello to the Floor"

London’s The Duke Spirit is a patchwork of its influences, and acknowledges hundreds of them on their website, under the title of “Duke’s Alphabet.” The group draws specifically on five or six of these on their debut LP Cuts Across the Land, and while they never quite transcend any of them and create a new sound, the album coheres due to the presence of enigmatic blonde singer Leila Moss. Some have gone down the obvious road to the Velvet Underground and Nico, but Moss is much more than a visual presence. Vocally, she conjures the smoky ambience of Hope Sandoval, the discordance of PJ Harvey and brattiness of Karen O at various points throughout the album, as the band surrounds her with growling basslines and plenty of twangy reverb to acknowledge the The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Bad Seeds, and on standout track “Hello to the Floor” (mp3), The Concretes. Stick around for the wonderful harmonica flourish at the end.

Buy Cuts Across the Land as a UK import here. It will be released stateside next month.