Tactile Gemma — n/t

Tactile Gemma is the name of the band consisting of the sisters Edvardsen and Rune Sörgård. Ann-Mari has been in The 3rd & The Mortal and Monika has her own band Atrox. Rune studied sound engineering and recorded his own stuff on harddisc.

He hooked up with Monika and Ann-Mari who added their twisted vocals to the material. I would describe the music as theatrical ambient with slight triphop and rock-influences. Some of it reminds of the more weirder songs of The 3rd & The Mortal. The sisters are both amazing singers with a lot of technique and the ambition to explore the possibilities. Although I think Monika overdid her ornamentation on the last Atrox album a little bit she delivers an excellent performance on this album. Ann-Marie showed her capabilities in 3rd... and she also impresses me (again).

The songs are freely constructed and might need a few spins to hit you in the face. People who expect lovely elves and dreamy songs because of the 'female vocalists'-tag need to reset their parameters if they want to enjoy this album. Some tracks are dreamy others are more like nightmares. There are heavy beats and thumping basslines alternated with ambient soundscapes. They are not yet in the Diamanda Galas section but a song like Heal makes you shudder from the burdensome atmosphere. The pace is slow and dragging, there's an operatic vocal melody. Ambient sweeps of synthesizer emphasize the oppressive character of the piece. At the end of the song the voice sounds more like an Armenian doudouk than a human voice.

Come Eclipse is an atonal duet between the sisters and reminds me of contemporary classical music until the beat sets in and an orgasmic guitarsolo follows. Mellow Pillow sounds like Portishead's main influences were King Diamond and Goblin instead of Lalo Schifrin and John Barry. Spiders are running all over your dusty body and cover you with cobwebs in Creepy-Crawlies.

Overall an unmistakably Nordic esthetic is displayed in the music. It seems you have to come from the north to paint such pictures. People who liked the last album by The 3rd & The Mortal will be very pleased with this album. If you like Ulver's Perdition City and vocal acrobatics do not scare you, it might please you. Fans of early 3rd... material (Kari-era) and Atrox could be disappointed.