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Tunng

…And Then We Saw Land

Label: Full Time Hobby

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There has been a definite pattern to the musical journey of Tunng since their inception. From their purported beginnings as makers of soft porn film soundtracks, they began by experimenting with found sounds and electronics, and chose a folk framework to hang it all from. With the release of each album, however, the folk music has slowly begun to take the front seat, with the electronic effects a complement rather than a foundation. With fourth album …And Then We Saw Land, the folk has its hands firmly on the steering wheel, foot on the gas and speeding ever forward.

In some ways this album will suffer from the timing of its release. Lead single and opening track ‘Hustle’ is the sort of summery acoustic guitar pop you want to throw your windows open to on a blue sky July morning, yet the fact that most of its airplay is taking place in the grip of an interminable UK winter means it will go largely ignored by the commercial radio stations, and by extension, the listeners who might have given the album a whirl on the strength of that first single.

Which is a shame, because Tunng’s most accessible album to date has more nuggets where ‘Hustle’ came from. The melancholy verse in 'Don't Look Down Or Back' gives way to a life-affirming chorus in a chopped up time signature, while ‘October’ will have early English folk fans misty-eyed with nostalgia. The chorus to ‘With Whiskey’ features a completely unexpected re-imagining of Aha’s ‘Take On Me’ which comes off a treat, while ‘These Winds’ is a stop-what-you’re-doing-and-listen a’cappella gem.

All of which is not to say that Tunng have completely abandoned their roots. ‘By Dusk They Were In The City’ is an electronic instrumental with some acoustic guitar thrown in to stay in keeping, while ‘Sashimi‘ has more in common with The Flaming Lips than just a similar sounding song title. They round off with campfire singalong ‘Weekend Away’, the sort of track which sounds like it was selected directly from the shelf marked ‘rousing album closers’ in the library of songwriting resources.

With the release of this album, Tunng should have little to fear from the critics, who tend to welcome this sort of originality with open arms. Whether that will translate into a flurry of album sales, however, is sadly far more uncertain. - Patrick Burke