The Duke Spirit

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• Genre: Indie/Alternative
• Hometown: London

About

Brazen and brassy with a feminine core, the Duke Spirit hail from Cheltenham, England, where they were raised on early noise rock, grunge, blues and dream pop. Liela Moss fronts the quintet with all the sass of a Karen O, PJ Harvey or Grace Slick and the lofty pipes and harmonica vibrato to match. Embracing her commanding presence is an equally extravagant mix of sludgy guitars, heavy bass and quirky touches of autoharp, glockenspiel and tambourine. The group formed after Moss and guitarist/vocalist Luke Ford met in art college. Soon after, they enlisted fellow artist Toby Butler, flatmate Dan Higgins and friend Olly Betts to round out the band. Its debut album, Cuts Across The Land, was released in the U.K. in May 2005 and in the U.S. the following year. The group then joined Desert Sessions maestro Chris Goss in Joshua Tree to record a track with UNKLE (featured on War Stories) and subsequently its own sophomore album, 2008's Neptune.

- Stephanie Benson