Lupine Howl's second album finds them continuing to wreak remarkable results from what may appear an unwieldy collection of influences with their muse stranded roughly equidistant from 90s Bristol trip-hop and 70s Los Angeles country rock. Lupine Howl have discovered, however, that the musical bleakness of the former goes very well indeed with the lyrical self-pity of the latter, and The Bar at the End of the World is riddled with great songs. Comparisons with the similarly-inspired Alabama 3 are difficult to avoid, but Lupine Howl are now sounding more and more like themselves. They remain proficient at rumbustious rock & roll, such as the Stones-a-like opening track "A Grave To Go To", but the moments that really make The Bar at the End of the World somewhere you'd want to visit are the slower and prettier ones, especially the attractively Velvets-via-Lee-Hazlewood-ish "Don't Lose Your Head" and "Can You Forgive Me?". Best of all is "Signing Off", a magnificent gospel ballad which sounds like something written for a 25th century George Jones. --Andrew Mueller
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