There are some nice harmonies and gentle singing on this little six-song EP which ranges from British folk rock to old-tyme U.S. country with seeming ease. Not really surprising given that its from Blair Dunlop and U.S. group Larkin Poe’s Rebecca and Megan Lovell .
The collaboration began last year at the Cropredy festival in rural England’s Oxfordshire where the three performers did a version of Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine” (featured on this EP). It went well, so Dunlop – son of British folk singer Ashley Hutchings and winner of the the Horizon Award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – headed off to Atlanta to record.
It’s a real mix. “The Month of January” sounds at times like something Pentangle could have put out (which is about as much a compliment as I can come up with in this genre). The title track “Killing Time” is Alison Krauss-like with a lovely bit of mandolin. “Strangler Fig” has elements of early Simon & Garfunkel in it.
But of course it is none of these. It is three young performers bringing their own skills and styles into play. Their voices meld, Dunlop’s guitar weaves in and out, Rebecca Lovell’s fiddle haunts and sister Megan’s dobro and lap steel brings a palpable taste of Appalachia to the event. It works.
