Tunng - Comments Of The Inner Chorus

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 19 / 7 / 2006

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Review

If by some odd coincidence Tunng's debut went past your attention last year, they picked up the thread dropped by the Beta Band about 2 years ago. Tunng does not even comprise of Scotsmen yet this second album confirms a sense of melodic meandering, usually said to be originating from north of the border. The context remains that of a sole singer and guitarist yet with Pro Tools and similar aids available to the musician, but the end product by no means makes a charming yet clumsy record. It leads to to total artist control over his music. Any emphasis on the samples, the acoustics or even on the modest ingenuity in the arrangement will do injustice to this album of exclusively great tracks, all ten of them. These sound as if they were recorded at home and are not aiming at a particular market, but in due course the songs will appeal to a very large audience. At least members of the lo-fi congregation will be very pleasently surprised. These days the term is folktronica which, however, is an elitist term for a hybrid of folk music and computer generated music. The loop of the sound from a typewriter plus other clips of sounds from domestic devices in a subtle way adds to the feeling of listening to an up, close and personal album. 'Comments of the Inner Chorus' breathes friendliness from the very articulate mouth that Tunng is. Actually, the merits of 'Comments of the Inner Chorus' are those of a showcase of excellent songwriting. As the debut album was somewhat of an excellent single with a few good tracks and a few fillers, 'Comments of the Inner Chorus' is like a magnificent book of ten chapters. The quiet and basic touch on the album misleadingly made 'Comments of the Inner Chorus' appear unremarkable on first hearing; it's a rough diamond though which you need get your ears around to polish it to become the hidden jewel. It's no use highlighting one single track even when some tracks work independent of the context of the album. With Tunng it's much more than that; with Tunng harmony falls into place at each and every instance.

Track Listing:-

1 Hanged
2 Woodcat
3 The Wind up Bird
4 Red and Green
5 Stories
6 Jenny Again
7 Man in the Box
8 Jay Down
9 It's Because…We've Got Hair
10 Sweet William
11 Engine Room

Band Links:-

http://www.tunng.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/thisistunng
https://twitter.com/thisistunng
http://www.last.fm/music/Tunng
https://www.youtube.com/user/tunngvide
http://www.songkick.com/artists/504900