Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 04:49 AM PDT

Exciting melancholia is just the ticket. Lars Kranholdt and Anne Baier as Anois construct with guitar glockenspiel, melodic, fan organ and brittle honest vocals an oft fragile beauty within a warm lo-fi acoustic meets electronic feel. At times the vocals are so personal, listening seems like an intrusion or a perversion, but if character is hidden outside the music can the tones ring true? Of course deception can be part of an art form and indeed these may be just beautiful lies, some of the best heard by these ears indeed fulfill this strange contract, yet perhaps a brutal naïve honesty is something for which to remain a romantic fool.

Click and glitch meet strum is quite familiar to the music landscape and Tree House Whispers is at ease in the combination of the acoustic electronic environment. November reveals a sense of vocal chorus singing more familiar to the Choral traditions while on A Noise vocal harmonics are built into sampled looped vocals overwritten by indie vocal styling. The deft hand at incorporation of oblique elements, glockenspiel elevating tone, at other times the focal point reveals cello or French Horn, with an ease and simplicity of disarmingly smooth transitions. Static crunch on He Sings to me is paired against a guitar patter akin to Appalachian banjo yet obviously distinct. Yet the unraveling method of describing Anois removes the feel which is a full intricate interweaving of elements best brought together on Waltz of Wolves; a contemporary waltz with all the elements of a medieval northern European folk tale. On Beds and Dishes the sense of full sonic landscape is brought forth by more direct method of electronic kick drum, bright direct melodic guitar, fore grounded vocal duet and a racy guitar glockenspiel refrain.

So you get the idea that this album is distinctly different, in that it has such a wide palate brought together reveals the depth of knowledge in this duo. The seeming naïve fragility and melancholic touch does little to dispel the depth of musical talent, not that these qualities can be equated with ignorance. Perhaps it is the climate of Northern Europe that develops so well this succinctly knowledgeable, widely referenced atmospheric beauty, with such an ease? Regardless it is a construction of wonder and also a free download!