
Anahita - Matricaria [Important Records - 2009]Anahita brings together Tara Burke (Fursaxa,Tau Emerald ect) and cellist Helena Espvall (Espers) for six lengthy often primal and sometimes haunting/beautiful tracks of droning, sawing avant folk dwell. Like much Of Burke’s work this feels like it’s from another time and place, heady with strange ritual and almost witchy type air & often feeling like a found recording from some strange & ancient female cult. The tracks are build around a mixture of: Cello which goes from been: sawn, manically bowed, to been left to hauntingly droning on. Other stringed textures which could either been strangely tuned acoustic guitar, banjos or lutes; which are picked, plucked and manically strummed. Joint sometimes haunting, sometimes ragged and demented female vocalising, and lastly organ textures/ drone hoovers. None of the tracks have divined lyrics or text’s and more about using the pair vocalising as another texture or shade to the pieces. On the whole I found this fairly enjoyable & satisfying in its witchy wonder. Through on the downside some of the tracks do follow a similar sonic path as each other & it’s certainly not as rewarding & varied as Burke's other projects Fursaxa or last years excellent collaboration with Sharron Kraus Tau Emerald. But if you’ve enjoyed Burke's other work it’s certainly a worthy investment.      Roger Batty
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