Kingsley Flood: "Mannequin Man"

Kingsley Flood, the only folk band in living history to feature a genuine ex-diplomat, are back with a political edge to their flighty rock-Americana. Obviously plagued by the federal expense account he almost got talked into, Naseem Khuri has poured his conscience into Colder Still, which emerges as a handful of explosive little barn dances. “Explores the American pursuit of happiness” is how he puts it on his press sheet and he’s not lying: Khuri’s using the EP to trace the history of indulgence, from nightclub excess back to that afternoon in 1773 when people said, “Fuck this, we’d rather have coffee.” It’s a mammoth journey he’s set himself. At six tracks it’s going to be tight.

So where better to start than with the 1987 Kim Cattrall movie Mannequin, a clunky Splash rip-off about a statue in a department store brought to life by Egyptian magic? Thanks to the unleashing of Kinglsey Flood’s chief musician Nick Balkin, nowhere: “Mannequin Man” is their most raucous tune to date; pumping country revved up with the spittle of an early Jam track. Khuri howls about a hat-tipping playboy who swaggers from bed to bed, too cool to catch diseases. “I was born to be a womanizer,” he croaks, Balkin thrusting the bass and drumming like a fifteen-year-old Foo Fighters single. It’s filled with enough abandon to bring Dennis Hopper back to life, but still remembers its country roots with a violin bridge and Ennio Morricone’s mouth organ. Worth hearing if you couldn’t make the folk rally at Occupy Wall Street, or if you just want see what might happen when Liam Gallagher takes his first trip to Arkansas.