Reviews - Fold 03/09
MooV is a meeting between electronic composer Colin Riley and Norwegian vocalist Elizabeth Nygard. The range of sounds tends to lean in the direction of abstraction, dabbling in waifish, melodic drones and obscure jazzy exchanges. While Riley's music remains rooted in real-world instrumentation (cello, bass guitar, percussion and keyboards) it tends to be so far removed from its source that its derivation hardly matters. The album opens with the lovely, 12k-ish 'Pure', setting quiet, bell-like tones against Nygard's mesmeric vocal, and even during its loudest moments (as on the jazzy, marimba-styled 'Interference') the album remains complex and mysterious. Nygard sounds rather like her compatriot Maja Ratkje on 'Coil', squeaking and muttering in conjunction with a bed of granulated digital sound and manipulated cello noise, while the chiming clock resonances of 'na sov (now sleep)' are altogether more gentle and effortlessly lovely. Finally, 'End With Mourning' ceases to be so tonally detached, its urgent stutters and minor key strings ushering a dramatic, glitch-laden close to the record. Recommended. »back to reviews list
Boomkat (March 2009)