Nominated by: Tom
Music club: MNAC
Highlight: Källans Återuppståndelse
Yikes. Anna Von Hausswolff. Extravagant name - all those double consonants. Greedy.
Easy listening this is not. And that's fine - it just takes some time to adjust.
My first wondering was - what kind of a mood were you in sunny Dubai on a beach and this gothic songbird's music worked? My second thought was how much the jazz festival has expanded its brief to include this...I'm not sure what genre of music Anna belongs to, but it ain't jazz.
I've been conditioned to noise - being a lifelong Yoko Ono fan has meant coming up against some pretty challenging music over the years - try Cambridge 1969 - John on guitar feedback and Yoko on vocals.
So, I gave Anna a few spins and once the shock had worn off I could make some tentative observations:
The Truth The Glow The Fall is a fantastic opener and a great title - it builds a nice atmosphere for Anna's emoting. She sounds impressive on the wooh woohs. Not sure about the dark lyrics though - Oh down in the chaos driven by black magic glow. Black magic? I'm not sure why she mentions NZ's America's Cup boat in the song - doesn't seem to fit. Kidding.
Track 2 - Am I boring you? She asks. No way. Am I scaring you? She also asks. A little. I know you'll laugh at this but it reminds me of early Pink Floyd - around the time of Careful With That Axe Eugene and Bike. I like this one.
By the all important track 3 mark - I'm struggling to differentiate them. Is it me or is the pace the same on the first 3 songs and the same kind of structure - building the atmospherics, then Anna jumps in with vocals that end up with some freeform wooh woohs. It seems like it to me.
And so, into the 19 daunting minutes of Ugly and Vengeful - and by the 5-minute mark each time I found the noise disturbing my brain. Reminded me of Eraserhead - frightening, intense and brutal and I have to make myself stick with it. Not a pleasurable experience.
However, Kallans blah blah blah is quite lovely - a bit of a treat perhaps for making it through the concert thus far (the raptuous applause for the terrifying Ugly and Vengeful took me by surprise. Anyway - Kallans is nice respite from the onslaught.
Final 2 bracketed tracks benefit from taking a heavy metal slug fest stance after a gentle start but again - 15 minutes? It's hard to concentrate on 15 or 19 minute songs that don't include lengthy noodling guitar solos by Jerry Garcia.
So, in summary - after the opener, the shorter doses of Anna are enough for me and I really liked them - especially Kallans. But that's enough Anna for me in this lifetime Tom.
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