Nalle - The Sirens Waves [Locust Music - 2008]Nalle are Glasgow based avant folk trio of Hanna Tuulikki, Chris Hladowski and Aby Vulliamy. This thier second album primal focus is on Hanna Tuulikki distinctive and often bizarre vocals- think a more deranged folky Bjork, or a sinister earthy theatrical whine. To which a strange and dense mix of folk, world music, drone matter, lo-fi electonics & all manner of sonic strangeness is added. All to make a very distinctive brew which through enjoyable can be a little trying a times The musically backing consists of all manner of stringed instruments, vintage oscillators, Moog synth, buzzing harmonium, flute, clarinet, sing bowl, etc along with the odd field recording element too. The songs are more often then not quite long moving past the 7 minute mark and having a loose yet composed hippy sing-song around the fire feel, with a mix of western and Easter harmonic scales and drones. At times the sound becomes a bit too muddled and chaotic for its own good with Tuulikki vocals sailing, whining and soaring all over the places and often the stringed instruments wondering off on their own tangents. But there is certainly something oddly appealing and quirky about the whole thing that keeps you listening and returning to The Sirens Waves dense,often haphazard and overcrowded sound. Certainly not an album for everyone but if you like strange and dense folk music and have patience to let Nalle weaving there weird sometimes discordant, sometimes oddly beautiful magic on you- it’s certainly worth your time. To hear an mp3 track from the album sail into here Roger Batty
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