NEW MUSIC: Soap&Skin – Lovetune For Vacuum (2009)

9
Jul/091

NEW MUSIC: Soap&Skin – Lovetune For Vacuum (2009)

soapskin

The blurb:

Haunting and powerful piano driven project from Anja Plaschg, the bold 19 year-old Austrian farmer’s daughter.

Sounds like:

It’s a little too simplistic, but imagine Vespertine-era Björk with a large dose of central European melancholia. Skipping beats and eclectic synths that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Autechre release, but here they’re just the support for Plaschg’s ever so delicate songcraft.

Thoughts:

Now this girl has a voice on ‘er. Expansive and ethereal, it would be far to easy to reference Björk (see, I’ve done it twice now already) or even Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir of Múm, but the wide, confident and breathy delivery is somehow more touching than either of these.

The reason, I think, is the honesty of it all. The production is clear and crisp; the piano in particular is the best I’ve heard on a “pop” record for a fair while. This is consistently intimate in a way that Vespertine isn’t (that’s thrice now) as it sounds like Plaschg is singing for herself as much as anyone else. It gives me a similar feeling of claustrophbia-tinged romance as when I listen to Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago.

So what is it that really makes this record stand out from the crowd? The beats are modern and competent enough, as are the moody tunes themselves. However the magic here is in the voice which has so much promise in it. This is the first record from Soap&Skin, and I’m really looking forward to more.

Verdict:

Grows and grows. If you have a heart, you’ll fall for this one.

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