Tunng - Mothers Daughter & Other Songs '2008

Tracks list

The debut album from Londons Tunng, following several singles from which only
two tracks are reprised here, presents ten alluring glimpses into the already
fully formed and distinctive soundworld they would continue to explore and
develop on future releases: in essence, gently pastoral acoustic folk, liberally
garnished with electronic flourishes and warpages. Its a style that finds clear
parallels in the work of New Englands the Books -- in particular, the
intermittent found-sound snippets and spoken word samples (thats Allen Ginsberg
and Gregory Corso reading from their poetry in Out the Window with the Window)
make that connection unmistakable -- but has few other obvious comparisons.
Which doesnt mean its hard to classify: indeed, the genre tag folktronica, which
had entered into general usage several years before Tunngs emergence, never had
a more apt referent. The electro-acoustic IDM of folktronic pioneer Four Tet,
which is briefly recalled here by the glitchier, beat-driven portions of the
instrumental Kinky Vans, may have incorporated organic elements, but that hardly
seems sufficient to qualify it as folk. Apart from outliers like Adem (a
singer/songwriter whose electronic aspects are relatively superficial), few if
any of the loosely defined styles practitioners have conducted their
genre-blending escapades with so firm a foundation in conventional folk
songcraft. Song titles like Fair Doreen, Tale from [the] Black, and Song of the
Sea impart a sense of quaintly provincial antiquity, and indeed each of these
numbers unfurls a lilting, somewhat dirge-like melody redolent of traditional
English balladry; each one also sports the bands trademark cleanly fingerpicked
guitar work -- the latter also embellished with banjo and harmonica (and
underscored, characteristically, with a subtle pitter-patter of clicks and claps
that might be electronic or acoustic or some combination of the two, as well as
distant, scratchy announcements and sudden bursts of canned laughter). But
despite the groups archaistic bent, theres nary a trace of sticky nostalgia
here, which is due as much to the sympathetic but unsentimental vocals -- many
of them delivered in Sam Genders gruff, but not tuneless, deadpan, and often
doubled -- as it is to the barrage of electronic intrusions. Actually,
intrusions is a bit misleading, even if it does often feel as though the samples
and effects are churlishly disrupting perfectly self-sufficient indie folk songs
-- in fact Tunng have achieved such a natural, timely fusion between two
disparate musical approaches that if they didnt deliberately hijack your
attention from time to time, you might not even notice the seams. Its a neat
trick that they make look easy, and as good as they are its hard not to wish
that the constituent components of that fusion were even stronger -- the songs
are amiably tuneful and lyrically intriguing, but on their own terms they fall
somewhat short of spectacular; the programming is accomplished but never truly
breathtaking -- so as to make this album as impressive on all fronts as it is in
its utterly unique overarching aesthetic (which is very clearly its defining
feature). But what is here is certainly fascinating in its own right, enough to
make this an excellently compelling and promising debut.

Tracklist:
1 01. Tunng - Mothers Daughter (03:24)
1 02. Tunng - People Folk (04:09)
1 03. Tunng - Pool Beneath the Pond (05:47)
1 04. Tunng - Beautiful and Light (04:11)
1 05. Tunng - Tale From Black (05:14)
1 06. Tunng - Song of the Sea (03:54)
1 07. Tunng - Kinki Vans (05:11)
1 08. Tunng - Fair Doreen (01:43)
1 09. Tunng - Code Breaker (03:09)
1 10. Tunng - Surprise Me 44 (05:07)

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