Suche:after work

When we started The Bunker New York label in 2014 there was a short list of artists whose music we knew that we wanted to get out into the world. Lori Napoleon, aka Antenes, was high up on that list, although at the time the Brooklyn-based Chicago native had yet to release her recorded music at all. Five years on, after acclaimed records on L.I.E.S. and Silent Season, residencies at Issue Project Room and Bell Labs plus a busy global touring schedule as both a DJ and live performer, we are proud and excited to present Lori's Ante Meridiem EP under her Antemeridian production moniker. She tells us that the Antemeridian project is a special outlet for her more melodic synthesizer compositions and the name Antemeridian refers to morning light and the meridian lines of the planet, the view you would have from above if you were already in the sky/space/seeing the atmosphere also from a great distance.'
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With this EP, Antemeridian has created nothing less than a masterwork of synthesis comprising unique soundscapes unbelievably detailed and crisp. We asked Lori to tell us a bit about her production techniques, which include home-built machines from unorthodox source materials including vintage switchboards and telecommunications equipment. She actually built her first synthesizer out of an antique telephone switchboard we donated to her from The Bunker HQ! I use a combination of synths and controllers/sequencers that I've made along with commercially available/ bought or modded analog synths and field recordings that have gone through a number of effects chains. There may be a crackling sound that emerged from the modular which made me think about a flame sparking and burning out, recalling a very organic process in nature - but in a composition it's a drum element. Perhaps the sense of detail comes from how I work on finding sounds before arranging them in a track so when I find one with little nuances and textures, then I'll be inspired to compose with it. Visceral sounds are very important to me, and sounds that you may not instantly identify with this or that synth model - which is why I like the idea of designing my own palette for portions of tracks.'

It is Melodies International's greatest pleasure to bring forth its latest reissue comprising two stripped-back, reflective pieces of US folk soul.

Largely forgotten for the past forty-odd years, Bobby Wright (now Abu Talib)'s "Blood Of An American" and "Everyone Should Have His Day" resurface as politically-infused works that shine bright and still hold meaning to this day.

The 60s and 70s constituted an exceptional era for its unique blend of popular culture and political radicalism. Household names such as Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye and Gil Scott-Heron used art to express their discontent with the current state of affairs, namely the US government's involvement in warfare and their inability to deal with critical social issues of the time. Though not a musician, Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay Jr) was advocating a similar anti-government stance in the boxing ring, and his objection to serving in the Vietnam War sealed his status as an icon for the wider counterculture generation.

Meanwhile in Queens, New York City, Abu used to work several jobs as a construction worker and cab driver - but still found time to play with his band in clubs for $100 a night to support his family. Against the backdrop of international conflict and violence, most of his surroundings failed to listen to how he felt. However, he considered music to be the greatest form of communication with the world and it was his belief that a positive message should be spread to future generations.

After one band member was killed in Vietnam and another went into the service, Abu resolved to pick up his guitar and record these songs as a duet in 1974 with his bassist - the only other remaining band member. Combining guitar, bass and a voice that quavers with emotion he self-released the record in 1974, one which holds its own alongside the all-time greats.

These songs of introspection remind us of the beauty there is in simplicity and how moving art can be when the feelings expressed come from the heart. MEL009 will be released in its original 7" format alongside a 16-page Melozine, featuring words from Abu Talib, social studies professor Paul Rekret and much more.

Mogwai return with their 9th studio album which was recorded with renowned producer Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lip's, Mogwai's Come On Die Young and ROCK ACTION) at his Tarbox Road Studios in New York State.

Every Country's Sun named after a friends lack of knowledge in how the universe works, takes two decades of Mogwai's signature, contrasting sounds and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal trance-rock, and transcendental euphoria. It will definitely appeal to fans of the band and will gain many new ones along the way.

Boxset includes: White vinyl double LP, 12" black vinyl (containing 6 tracks of album demos), CD, plus a set of Tarbox Road photographic prints - Includes download card redeemable from the label.

This is the first album of Borusiade, in which she takes her music to a new level, finding her very own expression, that is making us first shiver then sweat, then chill and finally melt.

Cómeme starts 2018 by proving again to be a safe haven and a sanctuary for sensitive plants and unique characters devoted to music - just like Miruna Boruzescu aka Borusiade - from Bucharest - who conquered the radio stations of our parallel worlds and utopian desire. 'Dream catcher' was the name of the show, and 'Jeopardy', a nocturnal EP, her first release on vinyl.

Now, after adventurous travels through night clubs, theatres, windy cities, snowy fields and merciless deserts her desires and imagination have manifested themselves in her very first album, carrying the intriguing title: 'A Body'

The record sleeve features the back of her head, making us wonder what she sees, on the other side. Her visions unfold through 8 pieces of music that follow a dreamlike narrative of associations and transformations. Somber synthetic atmospheres, sparse and spatial rhythmical arrangements, strangely seductive melodies and lysergic ally pulsating bass lines lead us away from a dystopian present towards a sensorial experience we long to repeat as soon as it's over.

'A Body' is a deeply poetic work in which again and again you will hear Borusiade's voice, sometimes dissolving and recreating meanings in mantra-like repetitions, sometimes layering itself to pagan choirs of smooth ecstasy. Then again you will also hear that voice close to you, singing, sharing an experience or a thought. It is always soft, effortless and unpretentious, but always strong, clear and precise, like the voice that speaks to you in an altered state of consciousness. It seems to come from the same person that is holding your hand, when everything else seems to fade into uncertainty while wandering through strange times and places...

Starting with the song CLUSTER the effect is kicking in, we sink into the universe of the album through this throbbing ambience that seems populated by a reverberated ant colony that broke into a synthesizer. The introduction of this album is a complex emotional soundscape that is followed by a song: BREATHE, which sounds like a classic you never heard. With its catchy melancholia, it creates a déjà vu like strange familiarity of the unknown - a memory from the future. And though our minds were just twisting and turning in an overflow of information, we suddenly leave our bodies and observe ourselves breathe.

Other tracks, like DORMANT are more focused on the narration of the body and its state. Words, describing it in many ways, softly and incessantly repeated, are mixed deeply into the soundscapes of a track that features a bass drum so soft it could be a heartbeat. Foggy moments like these dissolve in a track like AN ACUARIAN FEELING, which is queer synthesizer love, shifting in shape and momentum, a ray of light that pushes itself through the nightly atmosphere that was preceding these moments, a similar landscape in different times - a choir enters, cheerful drums, climbing and descending melodies and rhythms of hope. Just like the utopian vision in the title track A BODY, that stands at the end of this journey, which in itself just opens another new horizon.

After a first EP of the year from STL, the Solar Phenomena label now welcomes Romania's Romansoff. The Raw Tools label boss hails from Bucharest and has also released his gritty, stripped back house and techno on Creme Organization and Sportiv. Here he offers four new tracks, with one remix from Timedance man Ploy completing the package.

'Halo' epitomises Romansoff's style with its slow, heavy drums and sparse, scattered perc sounds. A lo-fi melody adds colour, while 'Coach Jacket' ups the ante with busier claps and crashing hits laid over a turbulent, unsettled bassline. Increasing the pressure further, 'Graded' grows manic with punchy drums, layers of fuzzy synths and bass and distant cries that are dark and unsettling. Ploy flips this one into a prickly and atmospheric drum track that keeps you on edge and Romansoff's digital exclusive 'Michigan Lake Tapes' is a slow motion workout with unsettling synths and tortured pads that grows ever more unhinged. It rounds out a leftfield house EP in style.

Born in Poland and now operating out of the ever-effervescent London, the adoptive city where she's learnt the ropes of music production and Djing, Anii - real name Ania Iwinska - has lived many lives in one. Yet if one thing's remained a constant over the years, no matter the harshness of the obstacles life threw at her, it's indeed a deep and inextinguishable love for music; be it behind the mixing desk at Wired Studios or in her own Shoreditch workroom, the key place where she's kept honing her skills with unfazed diligence, up to the point of making it her actual second home.

Anii lands her debut transmission on Kompakt and surely not the last. Named after the Polish word for 'roots', 'Korzenie' finds Ania threading her way in between subtle deep-house and techno folds, delving into the essential strength of her past and present to carve out an hypnotic maelstrom of traditional Polish music strings, tribal percussions and elegiac melodies. Coupling eerie ostinatos with stealthy bass moves, it's an ode to the magnitude of memory and power of resilience that reels out, blurring the line between late night club environment and further spacious, moony soundscapes.

Mouse on Mars is recognised as one of Germany's most defning and versatile electronic music projects. With their
anarchic mixture of sound that oscillates between uncontrollable chaos and meticulously arranged structures,
Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have forged a unique musical language, which is readily decomposed by the
unpredictability of its myriad mutations. Free from schools of thought, genre conventions, and from the constraints
of the music establishment, they have worked under the Mouse on Mars alias for 24 years, mapping their own
idiosyncratic trajectory through a no man's land between pop, art, club music, and the avant-garde. - Jan Rohlf
Idiology takes the acoustic experiments of Niun Niggung even further, and it's this combination of electronic
and 'traditional' music -- melding keyboards and synthesizers with french horns and guitars and trumpets into a
seamless whole -- that points the way through the dead-ends of most electronica.'
- PopMatters
Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner continue to create soundscapes that blur the line between programming and live
musicianship, and sometimes between Earth and outer space.' - The A.V. Club
On April 13th Mouse on Mars will release Dimensional People,
their brand new studio album on Thrill Jockey.
The album features Werner and Toma joined by a number of
prolifc guests: Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Zach Condon (Beirut),
Spank Rock, Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Swamp
Dogg, Eric D. Clarke, Lisa Hannigan, Amanda Blank, Sam
Amidon, Ensemble Musikfabrik, and about 20 more musical
collaborators.
After a series of notorious dance oor releases, Dimensional
People reveals them working deep within their own vernacular,
digging into fertile terrain of their inexhaustible vault of digital
and acoustic experimentation, and charismatically making
elemental components new again. This album makes clear how
their craft is of discovery, of fnding new contexts for places,
sounds, memories, sensations, ambiences, technologies,
relationships, and of course, people.

Up next from the Rhythm Buro label is an EP from Cyspe, who might be better known as Robin Koek or for being one half of the almighty Dutch techno duo Artefakt. RB003 marks a special occasion for the label in releasing a full EP from a single artist. After This World seems to proceed forward fittingly on the same path once paved by Cyspe's debut record 'Amnesia', released on Koek's own label, Insula, in 2014.

From the label's inception, Koek has been a supporter and close friend of the Rhythm Buro team. Playing live at Rhythm Buro parties as Cyspe as well as live with Artefakt, the two have worked and partied close together. A release from Cyspe became a very welcome natural step for all.

A1 bursts open with 'Nexus,' a cerebral-atmospheric-blanket of a dance track, arguably the strongest offering on 'After This World'. Apparently, quite the story can be told in just seven and a half minutes for those attuned to listening. 'Mindscape' comes next, providing a notably nice ambient contrast to its dance floor-feeding predecessor. A2 maintains a similar vein and flavor of the sublime, if not a further development toward the heavenly and spiritual. The B-side proves to be a prime example of what 'deeper techno' is capable of: grooves that drive the dancer from this realm to the next. Both 'Earwitness' and the title track are sure to be rich vehicles for those sacred 'closed-eyes' moments on the dance floor.

Few authentic Electro producers from the UK can wear the badge 'legend' with the same level of justification as Phil Klein aka Bass Junkie. Active since the late 80s, Phil has been peddling his own take on Electro almost constantly, either as a solo artist or as part of numerous collabs with the likes of Dynamix II, Keith Tenniswood (Radioactiveman) and Si Brown (Dexorcist). DJ, remixer, live act, and the man behind the killer Battle Trax label, there is nothing this Junkie hasn't done.

With essential releases on labels such DMX Krew's Breakin Records, Andrea Parker's Touchin' Bass, and Billy Nasty's Elektrix; the Bass Junkie sound spans the old school beats and vibes of the Electro genre's origins, to the borderline industrial. From funky to ferocious, Bass Junkie's discography is a must have for anyone claiming passion for the genre - influential, individual, and infectious with every beat.

His 'Low Frequency Fugitive' EP is a welcome return for his Bass Junkie project, after several years working primarily on collabs. The EP brings four new tracks that maintain the Bass Junkie sound that brought him such success and notoriety in the first place, with a healthy dose of evolution too.

This is one Fugitive everyone should try and track down...

Long-term Soma collaborator Tony Scott drops his debut album with the label under his Edit Select alias, the perfectly crafted experience, 'Cyclical Undulations'. Having released with Soma under his Percy X moniker for years and having countless hits under his belt, Scott reinvented himself as Edit Select. Known for his dark, expressive and expansive music, Edit Select has become once of the most well respected and renowned artists in the genre. With this latest full length, he continues to explore the furthest reaches of the Deep Techno spectrum.

The Cyclical Undulations journey begins with Insta Grain, a mesmeric odyssey of ebbing pads and sparse percussive elements that seem to drift of into the expanse. A perfect opener before the first foray into more 4x4 territory begins with Above Ground a pulsating affair before Two Step Phase, a more stripped back affair, reminiscent of earlier Percy X works in it's 90s heyday. Undulation, more propulsive in it's approach, melds warping synth hooks alongside spectral tones. Horizon#1 follows in a similar vein yet drift into slightly more hypnotic territory as recurrent tones lead the track. Scott flourishes with yet more machine-throb crafting Close Up & In The Beginning She Was, both stacked with subtle nuances of his stylised percussion lost across dream like states. The later half of the album has a distinct minimalistic approach yet seem to provide maximal output with every beat. Horizon#2 is dark and ominous yet still characterised by a tough percussive element. Contact, produced in collaboration with Claudio PRC, delves into more submerged sounds with heavy sub bass and echoed drums, finishing of with Towards The E; a shuffling broken beat affair with after hours vibes and an endearing ethereal quality.

Cyclical Undulations demonstrates a mature sense of production from Edit Select. An assured collection of material, each track providing a striking insight into a true artistic mind.

Uzuri is proud to bring back our very own Giorgio Luceri after realising his first "Space Fire Truth" ep with us last fall.This one really pushes the envelope, and dare we say, this may well be his best work to date

After two impressive remix EPs taken from ELLEN ALLIEN's seventh studio album, 'Nost', BPitch Control unveil round three with another heavyweight lineup of contributors stepping up to the plate to deliver their own interpretations of the queen bee's original works.

This time around we're honoured to have ALAN OLDHAM, EOMAC, AMOTIK and XDB volunteering their services to bring a whole new dimension to the music from 'Nost'. Each of the four artists has earned a sterling reputation, with a style all of their own.

Zemlya (earth), the final installment of Nocow's three-part EP-series for Figure unearths the artist's maybe most drastic work to date. While opener Libbi still sprouts gently into crystalline arteries of ambiance, the incessant arps of Synchronicity loom ominously. Equally challenging, yet offering conciliation in form of string-led soothing is Rave Button, after which the record finds closure in the seemingly open-ended sound spiral of Troubles Will Be Miles Away.

Martha High (The Original James Brown Diva) is enjoying one of the most creative times in her career. After her work with Speedometer and Osaka Monaurail, she has prepared a new record with JB'S and does not stop touring the world. In addition, she has recorded one of her best tracks yet that Vinilos Enlace Funk had the pleasure to edit, "We Are One", produced by DJ Toner.

In this single diva Martha High teams up with legendary bass player Fred Thomas (member of James Brown's band and The Playback among many other 70's groups). There's no doubts that "We Are One" is a hit!

B. Fleischmann, the longest-tenured solo artist on Morr Music, returns with indie-spirited, electronica-enhanced moments of bliss on his new album Stop Making Fans': Recorded with a little help from friends including vocalist Gloria Amesbauer, Markus Schneider (guitars), and Valentin Duit (drums), it's a two-part reflection on artistic self-reliance vs. fame-seeking conformism, another deeply personal, utterly idiosyncratic album by the Indietronic trailblazer.Stop it and just DO,' Sol LeWitt once wrote to sculptor Eva Hesse - and listening to B. Fleischmann's new album, he indeed does both: He slams on the brakes and stops looking at what anyone else is doing, stops pleasing, stops being restrained, and at the same time he floors the accelerator and delivers the kind of high-paced work that bursts at the seams with polyphonic energy and an urgency unique to his music.Arriving with interlocked bleeps, the hustle and bustle of an invisible grand station's atrium ( Here Comes The A Train'), Fleischmann's trademark vocals serve as a gentle reminder to resist the siren calls, to not trust the latest hype. Energy levels remain high throughout the first part of the LP - whether it's the mumbling, personal stocktaking of what feels like an underwater hymn ( There Is A Head'), the robotic, immodest pop tune It's Not Enough' (feat. Gloria Amesbauer) or the return to light-speed mode on Wakey Wakey' - the first half of this album is indeed all about letting off some steam.After the collected canter of 7-minute instrumental Hand In,' the multi-instrumentalist & his studio mates kick off the slower-paced part II with the title song: a note to self, a reminder to never buckle or water down an original vision... and indeed, it's a sonic tapestry that's impossible to compare or pigeonhole when he changes the rhythm in mid-track and turns yet another corner when you thought you had discovered a fixed pattern. That said, B. Fleischmann certainly knows how to orchestrate an entire funfair full of sonic attractions. Guest singer Gloria Amesbauer returns for soothing tunes The Pros of Your Children and "Hello Hello . B. Fleischmann guides us to his almost jazz-tinged Little Toy , and leaves behind an Endless Stunner — another typically dense and shape-shifting stream of harmonies that keeps winding its way until the very end of this album It's rare that an album is great because it does not live up to its title - but here's one. Stop Making Fans,' his first full-length release in five years, is another totally unique, and thus potentially fan-base enhancing release. But then again, it's always been like that: We're usually at our best when we care the least - look at the delightful ways of toddlers or really old people. That natural ease, those invisible shrugs of shoulders: it's what does the trick. And you can hear a lot of that on Stop Making Fans'.

We are proud to announce the kick-off of a new Dynamic Reflections subseries: Dynamic Reflection LTD. A series that is set to explore a broad spectrum of electronic music, and aims to cross the barrier between the club floors and home listening. And to start in a proper fashion, we launch the LTD-series with a very special vinyl + full digital album package by Jonas Korbl.

Three years in the making, this anticipated album chronicles the musical, and in many ways, spiritual coming-of-age of Jonas Korbl. Having started producing house music at a very young age, this debut album under his birth name signifies a new direction for the young Dutchman. In these pieces you hear him shaking off the restraints of formulaic working, opting for more experimental paths instead. You could say Discovered 5 is a story about learning about music; An expression of the author's experience in broadening his horizons.

In the full release Korbl presents nine tracks with a sleek and undeniably dark aesthetic, taking you from ambient soundscapes to main room techno and back, touching down in Berlin and London along the way. Downtempo excursions comfortably rub shoulders with rough-and-tumble club destroyers, but as varied and idiosyncratic as the album is, the music feels far from contrived. Instead, the variation keeps you engaged, with the quieter moments acting as a counterweight to the pieces with a more straightforward approach. Somehow he manages to make all these different places and moods uniquely his own.

The most remarkable thing about this LP is Korbl's uncanny ability to take familiar elements and bending them to his will, creating a new context for the listener to experience his personal brand of electronic music in. The adventurous DJ will surely find a track to create that special dance floor moment on the vinyl release, containing four club-ready tracks. However, for the full experience the entire album is a must-listen, connecting the dots between the highlights placed on the physical LP. All in all, this debut bodes very well. With skills and experience beyond his years, Korbl's star is sure to only rise from here.

Southend quartet Ghost Music release their evocative debut album I Was Hoping You'd Pass By Here via Arlen on 19 January. They create careful, considered songs, weaving lo-fi lullabies with gliding guitars and understated arrangements. Influenced by Silver Jews, Flying Nun and K Records, they explore themes of nature, love, loss and a melancholic English romanticism embellished with beautifully spectral melodies and executed with startling subtlety.

Despite this record being their debut, the band has produced a veritable wealth of music over the past 20 years in various guises. Ghost Music revolves around the songwriting partnership of Matt Randall and Lee Hall, who had played together in the 90s with John Peel favourites Beatglider. More recently Randall has received critical acclaim as Plantman, with his three albums Closer to the Snow, Whispering Trees and To The Lighthouse receiving praise from The Guardian, Uncut and Mojo. When Randall and Hall reunited to collaborate on another album together, they brought in the talents of Roy Thirlwall on bass (Melodie Group) and Leighton Jennings on drums (Dark Globes) to complete the band.

The original idea would be that the songs would be 'ghosts' and create 'ghost music' to resurrect and dust off old songs that they had already started. Lee had found the beginnings of 'Home Dog' on a dusty old 4-track and he had recorded 'Strange Love' on his iPhone in 2014, whilst Matt had written 'My Cloud' as far back as 1997 (the night he moved out of his parents' house). As the album began to take shape, the ghostly premise took a back seat, as they began to breathe new life into the songs they found the impetus to write new ones.

Randall explains the songwriting process; 'When we were in Beatglider together and in the past we'd made a 'thing' out of writing long songs with a lot of changes. This time we pared it back a bit and stuck to the melodies more. We really wanted to make a proper guitar record. Lee's my favourite guitarist and it was lovely to see him stretch out on these songs with his diamond fingers.'

Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, Ghost Music's sound is instantly familiar, echoing beloved bands from the 90s such as Pavement ('Home Dog' has a definite 'Range Life' feel), Galaxie 500 ('Blindspot'), Yo La Tengo ('Heart Shaped Holiday' is influenced by the languid YLT songs that peak after a short intro) and even old-school rock'n'roll ('Strange Love' was born out of an appreciation for the instantly engaging opening riff in 50s songs). Yet Ghost Music's work never feels derivative, being instead effortlessly emotive, melancholic and affecting, creating a world of sound that is hugely reassuring and a tonic for the modern age.

For the first release of 2018 we welcome Harry Wolfman to the Outplay family!
Having followed his work for the last couple of years we're very happy to have him deliver this varied 4-tracker, which very well might be some of his best work to date.

The A side starts off with 'Hitch'. A warm and dusty groover driven by rhodes, a rubbery bassline and a thudding kick. A lovely string piece in the middle of the track slowly builds up to the break for it to return to the head nodding groove soon after. The added percussion gives it a nice lively feel as well.

'Pigs in Blankets' sets the pace a little slower, but the funk goes on. The track incorporates 80's style samples with some excellent synth and chord work. Perfect for a warm up session.

Starting on the B side Harry takes it up a notch with 'Nemoto', which will be a definite stomper for the dance floor. It takes you on a 9 minute journey of rolling bumpy basslines, screaming distortion leads and hypnotising synth work.
Finally, to ease things off, STS-136 (Final Call) comes in at a slow 88 bpm pace as a perfect closure to the EP. Dreamy pads, piano licks and a calming marimba melody combined with a beat which feels like a warm blanket will make you wander off for a moment...

Going Good's first release of 2018 is indeed a very special one.

Cosmic Handshakes sees the pairing of 2 extremely talented Detroit natives - Blair French & Todd Modes - who take elements of Disco, Techno, Jazz, House, Afrobeat, Latin music, Dub and Electronics and filter them through their own unique view of dance music. Steeped in soul, live instrumentation, sampling and analogous alchemical studio processes, French & Modes give us an exhilarating and fresh take on the deepest smoked out, after hours sounds of the city of Detroit.

'In The Mist' is the duo's second release, following on from 2013's 'The Delicate Details', released on the M1 Sessions imprint. The last 2-3 years has seen the pair individually release music on a plethora of varied and esteemed global labels such as FIT Sounds, Claremont 56, Rocksteady Discos and more.


A compelling body of work from front to back, the tracks on 'In The Mist' work perfectly as a self contained home listener, or as we've found, just as well on a darkened dancefloor, leaving the choice up to you, the listener.

An ethereal, unresolved presence fading into the stereo field, Hilja breathes into life with a haunted synth line and self-sampling vocal hook that instantly creates an enchanted space. Hilja is the debut album by Glasgow-based musician Maria Rossi aka Cucina Povera. Named after a style of southern Italian traditional cooking associated with precarity and making-do, a philosophy of simplicity and stoicism that applies perfectly to the spare but beautiful music Rossi experiments with. Hilja's marriage of minimal synth, field recordings and the hymnal dexterity of Rossi's vocal performances creates a new language, sometimes literally, to be spoken in some mythological Fourth World we've yet to create.
Originally from Finland, Rossi brings an acute sense of space, surroundings, and practicality to her working practice, with each composition often relying on a limited sound palette to create deeply affecting messages which transcend language. Cucina Povera's power is to communicate purely, often down to the solo-choir nature of Rossi's multi-layered voice, an achingly beautiful instrument which has seems to have an innate spirituality in its grain. The tension between the means and the end is at the heart of Cucina Povera, the invocation of a kind of secular spirituality at times using nothing but Rossi's voice. Indeed there's almost a Dogme-like purity to the arrangements: Elektra is a soothing song based around the lapping waves of Rossi's wordless backing vocals and a simple field recording of stones knocked together. Kehoitus is completely a cappella, a haunted fairytale told in glossolalia, evoking a quasi-religious experience with very little.
For music often minimal and simple there's a boldness that belies Hilja's status as a debut. Rossi allows each word, each sound and rhythm to exist in its own space, finding its own relationship with its surroundings. Mesikämmenen Veisu is perhaps the most ecclesiastical sounding composition here, burbling water trickles below a virtuoso vocal, with incredible arrangements in several registers undulating above. A meditation to relieve hunger and restriction, it's a perfect summing up of Hilja, a music ambient but completely earthed, finding enchantment in what you have to hand, the realism of magic, the magic of realism.
First Press limited to 300 with hand-screened sleeves.