Clara Hill:
Walk The Distance:
Tapete Records:
Out Now:
★★★★
After something of a hiatus for four years, Berliner Clara Hill's fourth album heralds something of a statement of intent. A bewitching electronic psychedelic flurry brings 'Walk The Distance' into view, marking out a territory not unlike that frequented by the likes of Goldfrapp, Vashti Bunyan, Mogwai and The Wicker Man soundtrack. Eerie, pleasingly unsettling and rather pretty in places, 'Konkav' and its closing near-instrumental cousin 'Konvex', bookend a varied melange of acid-folk and cyclical electro-pop that never settles but instantly takes the listener on a travelogue through a few styles.
So, after the hypnotic drone-pop of 'Dawn of a New Day', you bump into the motorik synth-patter of 'Dripstone Cave' which recalls Ladytron and while waiting for the unassuming single 'Lost Winter' to arrive, you rub shoulders with the resonating and hymnal 'Insomnia' and the avant-garde interlude 'Night Work', both of which are seemingly at odds with the rest of this engrossing set.
Elements of Stereolab permeate parts of the remaining tracks but it's Hill's own subtleties that ultimately earn 'Walk The Distance' kudos with perhaps the centrepiece track being saved 'til last. 'Glacial Moraine' begins like a scratched loop-track before evolving into a curious blend of, what could pass as, Swedish folktronica and musique concrete that stretches out to nine-and-a-half minutes of found-sounds and a long fade-out.
Always just the gloomier side of grown-up folk-pop, 'Walk the Distance' is a surprise and a delight for those who eschew 'love me baby' dross in order to absorb beauty and sorrow in equal measure.
Walk The Distance:
Tapete Records:
Out Now:
★★★★
So, after the hypnotic drone-pop of 'Dawn of a New Day', you bump into the motorik synth-patter of 'Dripstone Cave' which recalls Ladytron and while waiting for the unassuming single 'Lost Winter' to arrive, you rub shoulders with the resonating and hymnal 'Insomnia' and the avant-garde interlude 'Night Work', both of which are seemingly at odds with the rest of this engrossing set.
Elements of Stereolab permeate parts of the remaining tracks but it's Hill's own subtleties that ultimately earn 'Walk The Distance' kudos with perhaps the centrepiece track being saved 'til last. 'Glacial Moraine' begins like a scratched loop-track before evolving into a curious blend of, what could pass as, Swedish folktronica and musique concrete that stretches out to nine-and-a-half minutes of found-sounds and a long fade-out.
Always just the gloomier side of grown-up folk-pop, 'Walk the Distance' is a surprise and a delight for those who eschew 'love me baby' dross in order to absorb beauty and sorrow in equal measure.
