Coral Dusk - Sohnarr (2020)
The Week That Has Been
Another week with no particular theme in mind. Just the (mostly) random selections off my voluminous list of prospects. Starting tomorrow there’ll be a week of me introducing my obsession with the music of Bob Dylan, which if nothing else will at least make next week’s Friday email seem like I had a plan. You know me better, dear reader, but let’s keep it our little secret.
This week, though, we got:
- Turn-of-the-century neo soul from Amel Larrieux
- Califone’s indie / post / folk / blues thing
- A Led Zeppelin classic
- Here We Go Magic, a short-lived but interesting band
- Some lovely 90s jazz from Gary Peacock & Ralph Towner
- Fugazi, one of hardcore’s most distinctive and crucial bands
The mournful beauty of Sohnarr
Violinist Patricia Vanneste traveled through the Scandinavian wilds in 2018, letting nature inspire her. She recorded the basis of this record in place as she went.
She may have been ahead of the curve when it comes to processing solitude. She ended up releasing this record in May of 2020, just as the pandemic was forcing a lot of us to deal with more solitude.
It’s an utterly, devastatingly beautiful record. Vanneste’s violin and voice feature prominently, but there are numerous electronic textures and beats added that make her chilly performances even more impactful.
Tracks I Liked
Radar - one of the most pop-structured tunes here, that builds and releases very effectively without being over the top
The Mermaids of Bergsjøn - a gorgeous instrumental
Melomania - the longest track on the record slowly creeps into form, creates a dissonant barbed wire fence, and then tears it down back into peace.
