Latest mini-album release from London-based singer-songwriter.
Little Lore is the nom de tune of singer-songwriter Tricia Duffy. Originally from Portsmouth and now based in London, Duffy has several releases to her name under the Little Lore banner – an EP in 2021, and four singles. The first songs of ‘Seven Stories’ were released digitally as part 1 in September of 2023 with the three remaining songs / stories released with the physical format now. Duffy has once again called on producer and multi-instrumentalist Oli Deakin to work with her on the record. Deakin contributes pretty much all the instruments on the songs with the exception of drums where Morgan Karambel was enlisted. She previously worked with Deakin on CMAT’s debut.
The songs themselves might be best described as pop-folk. Opener ‘Running On Empty’ is marked with a gentle piano and soft-focus guitar over which Duffy sings a pretty dark lyric. ‘Sebastian Says’ which follows is a more up-tempo light-rocking tune in which Duffy addresses imposter syndrome framed almost as a dialogue with her inner eponymous underminer. Story 3, ‘Stolen Glances’, came out of a Nashville workshop and while a reasonably professional piece of work also sounds like it.
‘The Bench’ which tied off the original release is a tale of inter-generational love which discomforts the older party sufficiently that he leaves. The survivor sits on the bench thinking of what was and what might have been. The performance is a bit dry and one-paced though.
The first of the new songs, ‘The Jackal’, starts with a tight guitar part picked out and is then joined by Karambel’s percussion which mirrors the movement of the song’s subject. Lyrically, Duffy draws out some of the mysterious nature of the beast alluding to its place in folklore. Penultimate tune, ‘Little Pieces’, is a deeper piano led tune which takes a more interesting slightly darker turn. The song is a contemplation of loss of autonomy represented by being fed one’s meal in little pieces. It’s the song with the greatest impact on the record. The closer ‘It Would Be Easier To Miss You If You’d Died’ is a jaunty country tune telling of the disorienting loss of being ghosted out of a relationship. It’s the only co-write of the seven stories.
Overall, the mini-album (it’s 21 minutes long) is an interesting window on Duffy’s repertoire as a singer-songwriter which is more coherent technically than artistically.
