Lupen Crook
Wild Nature
Lupen Crook first emerged in 2004 as a solo "anti-folk" style acoustic act in the Medway area, and has since generated a prolific catalogue of eclectic and genre-spanning projects. Described both as a 'dazzling virtuoso' (NME), and 'splendidly uncompromising' (Clash Magazine), Lupen Crook has garnered a cultish reputation as both a musician and outsider artist. He made an an impact with NME and was included on NME: The Cool List 2005. Alongside his prolific musical output, his surreal and evocative oil paintings have recently been exhibited at Saatchi Gallery, London, and in solo and group shows across Thanet, Kent. 'Wild Nature' follows on from the darkly cinematic 'How Rotten The Teeth' (2020) and 2022's festive EP 'Christmas On Drugs And Other Cold Cuts.' Ever industrious, in addition to this full-length album, 2023 will also see the release of 'Mindfields,' a collection of short auto-fiction stories published by Cruel Design, an independent arts press founded by Crook with his Sex Cells collaborator, Willow Vincent. Lupen Crook's eighth full-length album, 'Wild Nature,' is a DIY, self-produced affair, recorded between Catford, South London, and his newfound home by the sea in Ramsgate, Kent. Written and recorded on a secondhand nylon string guitar bought from a school teacher, 'Wild Nature' is a lyrically-focused record led by Lupen Crook's singular and sardonic voice. Meditating on subjects as diverse as cancel culture, OnlyFans, BDSM, Ted Kaczynski, and modern art, Crook conjures a world that is at once as unpleasant and ugly as it is infused with magical and strangely uplifting observations.