Skinny Lister will be known to some as a band who’ve shared a label and toured with Frank Turner; to others, a band who’ve made regular appearances at festivals, their quasi-drunken jigs designed to gee up those unwashed tent dwellers well on their way to having a skinful of Doom Bar.  …And “designed” is somewhat of a sticking point here.  Where you may feel The Pogues had a natural flair for drunken gigs and aggressive performances – it’s well documented that the Pogues bought the party with them wherever, whenever necessary – with Skinny Lister, any relative rowdiness seems very much a facade.  Like Bellowhead (a bunch of public schoolboys trying to fool us into thinking they have deep traditions and folk roots) or Mumford & Sons (folk music for those who know almost nothing about folk music), Skinny Lister often sound as if they’re landing on their chosen bandwagon with a mighty thud.  The bulk of ‘Down on Deptford Broadway’ is faux folk of the very worst kind.

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