Speak Words Speak - My Prayer

Hear The Track Here

Speak Words Speak is the alter ego of Soundclick's Larry Ludwick and is - as you might have gathered from the bandname - a vehicle for spoken word pieces. Not exactly poetry, although some may indeed qualify for the tag, more like prose poems. Not sure where I picked up this fascination for the genre but all fingers point squarely in the direction of one innocent looking chap by the name of Jon Bushaway (aka The Dead Company) and his pioneering work with Sean Boyle a good few years ago.

Since moving to Soundclick Jon has partnered up more and more with Larry Ludwick on more than a few occasions, it may be strange but it is somehow compelling......that's what I keep telling myself... To my ears, My Prayer is more like a Dead Company track than just about anything I have heard from Larry's wilder side, from the bleakness of the electronica landscape to the caustic, bitter lyrical content. It was only much, much later that I discovered the track was parked under this name while Jon Bushaway made a new Soundclick and I guess it's best not ask the most obvious question for fear of a frustrated knee to the knuts. Not good for a person, ya know...

Anyone who has been made aware of what The Dead Company is will recognise all the elements that make them somewhat special, at least to us dedicated fans. Over the years I have no doubt developed a taste for their material, but I am not alone in seeing this bleak, austere style as something different, something to be savoured. Anger and passion are as much an essential part of a Dead Company affair as the music and here Larry excels, spewing vitriol like a newly struck oilwell of the soul. Again, people who know this musicians work know that it's never going to be an easy or comfortable listen but that has never been what this about...

Unsettling...betcha. Powerful, unrelenting and not for the foolhardy.