Customer Reviews

This Is Tunng: Mothers Daughter & Other Songs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This lovely hybrid of "glitch" electronica and "old school" british isles folk is one of the best overlooked releases of the year. While the combo of these two styles soulds like a recipe for sonic disaster, it actualy works amazingly well. Think Fairport Convention produced by Boards of Canada and you start to get the idea.

Emerging from the British Nu-Folk scene, Tunng revitalise a musical genre many either dismiss as outmoded and twee, or claim cannot be bettered since its 70s heyday of fragile, acoustic angst a la Nick Drake. And whilst Pause era Four-Tet may serve as a useful reference point, this isn't so much Folktronica as it is Laptop Folk. The songs and the acoustic instrumentation come first, underpinned by subtle electronic treatments. And the tunes are truly infectious- I just can't keep myself from playing them again and again. This music satisfies in me both the afficionado of contemporary electronica as well as the lover of good old-fashioned folk rock (like John Martyn's 1973 classic 'Solid Air'). This album is basically a collection of previously released 12" singles and has just received a US release. Meanwhile, back in the UK, now signed to Full Time Hobby, Tunng have released their equally awesome new album `Comments of The Inner Chorus', and then in 2007 `Good Arrows'. A favourite for several years now, I'm eager for anything else Sam Genders or Mike Lindsay might be involved with, so am eagerly anticipating release of the album by `The Accidental' (featuring Tunng man Sam).

this is really warm sounding album even though the songs are about things like, for example, a girl having a breakdown and robbing a bank. played with some lovely sounding acoustic guitars alongside some clever bleeps and samples, these songs are really imaginative stories instead of cliched ballads or angry political inaffectual nonsense.

My first "tunng" purchase was "and then we saw land". I really enjoyed this CD. Because of that I decided to go back and purchase some earlier "tunng" albums. I don't like "This is (Mother's Daughter)" as well, although I still like it. The albums are more different than I expected. "and then we saw land" is more melodic, more musical, less experimental and edgy. The electronics on "This is (Mother's Daughter)" are more jarring. For some, this might be a great thing. For me, I found it a little too edgy. For the most part I preferred the even-numbered songs. They were more musical. The odd-numbered songs (especially the first song) had me checking the CD to see if something was affecting the tracking. No problem with the tracking, just some jarring electronics. The electronic instruments in "and then we saw land" were interesting, and I felt contributed more to the musicality of the songs than in "This is..." Both albums make for interesting listening. For those of you old enough to remember "Steeleye Span" back in the 70's, I describe the band "tunng" as sort of a 21st century update of that band. Fun group, but for my tastes, I prefer the later album "and then we saw land". I look forward to sampling more of this interesting group's CDs.

Tuung has shown the unique ability to take the harmony that led to the passion so many of us miss and felt with the 60's and 70's high quality, passion engendering music, coupling it with what is so good in the Beta Band, Captain, Grand National and Orange Can music. Hypnotic, without being boring, rhythmic, lyrics worth hearing, sounds you would not expect fitting perfectly with the infectious propulsion of music that reminds you there are artists still delivering musicality, newness and a connectiion to the passion that got us all some years ago. When CSN slowed down, groups like this picked up an important thread of harmony, simplicity and infectious propulsion that makes you smile and want more.