Somewhere round about 10 years ago the concept of “folktronica” settled down to become a relatively stable area of music. Fringe its appeal may have generally been, but it incubated some major talents who are still making great music, and for better or worse primed general music fans' ears for the sounds of folk and thus arguably laid the ground for the monstrous success of Mumford & Sons.
This year has seen a subtle resurgence in the sound, with artists affiliated to the first wave of folktronica like Tunng, The Memory Band, Colleen and CocoRosie all making extremely fine albums. But there also seems to be a generation, possibly primed by the success of James Blake, who are making an altogether darker fusion of traditional harmonies and acoustic sounds with psychedelic digital trickery.
Most notable so far has been the brilliantly gloomy album by Cloud Boat on venerable techno label R&S – but this record, on a new label formed by London superclub Fabric, is something else. The duo of Throwing Snow and Augustus Ghost (no I dunno either) have clearly gone all out to create a chilling, pagan atmosphere – and have succeeded with wobbly electronic bells on. It feels weird listening to their fusions of dubstep, industrial techno, drum'n'bass, ambient and quivering, hallucinatory Wicker Man-style folk in the middle of a heatwave, as it speaks of bleak nights, hooded figures in the rain, granite landscapes and an unshakable chill. It is brilliantly terrifying, and a very special and unique album.
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