Vinyl of the Month

Artist: Nalle
Album: The SirensWave
Artwork: Hanna Tuulikki
Format: LP
Label: Locust
Manufacturer: GZCD (Czech Rep.)

The latest from Glasgow’s avant folk trio Nalle comes to us in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with thick cardboard stock and a stunningly huge, flowing illustration from vocalist Hanna Tuulikki. Thick waves and the hair of a reclining siren/Age of Aquarius-looking flower child mesh with sea foam and waves in broad strokes that meld the styles of creaky old woodprint illustrations and sketches you might have made with circle tools in MS Paint. A thick, crusty coating of blue ink fills in the sky and a dopey sun peaks out from a hill of ocean waves topped with a storybook tree releasing some leaves into the wind. The thing is just beautiful in general, and the rest — the crackling sounds as you open the whole sleeve especially — are like icing on the cake.
Found inside on the major league 180-gram vinyl is Nalle’s music itself, which is a juicy amalgam of drugged out and peaceful psych-folk and your old anthropology professor’s record collection. Nalle is a trio of musicians that share duties between guitars, recorders, flutes, pixiephones, hamonium, viola, accordian, singing bowl, clarinet, oud and cello, among a lot of other objects. The result is like something from Finland’s tiny but acclaimed folk scene (think Fursaxa and Islaja) mixed with some Joanna Newsom getting that crazy look in her eyes after staring at the bonfire a little too long. It might sound like you’re being transported to a dimension where the last thirty years of music never happened, but don’t worry, you’ll be alright. Nalle does this all the time.
Kudos to the Chicago label Locust for putting this one together — they’ve maintained one of the most thoughtful catalogues in the industry throughout their curious little career, and The Siren’s Wave makes a fine addition.

www.locustmusic.com