Tunng – Mother’ Daughter & Other Songs (Feral Media/Static Caravan)

Tunng is a collision of worlds. Between folkish singer songwriting and experimental electronica. A duo, they manage to make their music accessible without being cute or folktronica, which is no mean feat. Clearly Tunng have an infinite respect for melody, yet this doesn’ outweigh their desire for experimentation. Movies are sampled, breaks cut up, and obscure noises layered around the traps yet then there are these cute plucked acoustic guitars and this violently English crooning folkish vocals that are nothing short of enchanting. The off kilter elements prevent the more melodic songwriter elements from becoming tedious or predictable and some of the more erratic elements are employed specifically in reference to song. In fact the song is very important to Tunng. You can hear vague elements of Icelandic heroes Mum, Nick Drake or even Grandaddy, yet Tunng are very clear, confident and accomplished, not to mention unique in their vision. The opening track on the album is enough to make you sit up and realise that that Tunng are very different. A female vocal cries “stay,’ and is electronically treated and elongated into a strange disjointed wail, whilst some whispering rapping female vocals appear over an acoustic bed of guitar, some jittery percussion and bizarre explosions of fragments of sound. Then after a couple of minutes the smooth vocals kick in. It’s very different though also quite brilliant work unlike anything else around