ERIK LEVANDER
Kondens
RUM012
Rumraket 2008
09 Tracks. 43mins46secs

Erik Levander’s first release, Tonad, of which only 500 copies were made, was published at the end of 2004 on Swedish imprint Neon Records. Since, Levander has been spotted guesting on a handful of Efterklang records, yet most of his time has been spent working on this follow up. Unfortunately for Levander, things went terribly wrong while he was at an advanced stage in the recording process, when his computer suffered a major crash and, as he had no backup, he lost two years’ worth of work. A further two years on, Kondens has finally seen the light of day through Efterklang’s Rumraket imprint.

A classically trained musician who plays amongst other things clarinet, guitar, piano, harmonica and percussions, Levander spent most of his formative years listening to bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Red House Painters. It is perhaps the Spartan settings and poetry of the latter that find their way through his music in the most obvious fashion, yet the layers of statics and the delicate electronics that inform opening track Sekund are more in tune with modern electronic music. Indeed, one can easily draw parallels between Levander’s work and that found on labels as diverse as Apestaartje, Type, Expanding Records or Highpoint Lowlife for instance.

Levander’s compositions involve a wide range of acoustic sonic sources which are consequently processed and altered until they are, in many cases, barely recognisable. The resulting rendering greatly emphasises the atmospheric undertones of the music, with sounds placed in strategic places to reveal sudden moments of sheer beauty that could have been lying dormant under the surface for some time, spikes of electricity erupting from nowhere, or disconcerting jagged rhythmic density which leaves the listener wondering whether the CD hasn’t skipped. All this happens while subtle melodies a woven in the background and track almost unnoticeably flow past.

Throughout Kondens, Levander alternates between ethereal and more concrete moments he arranges soft or distorted sounds into finely detailed pieces. It is not rare to have him start with only sparse components layered over occasional clicks before building up the momentum by introducing coarser, saturated, sounds. Oskärpa, Tolvupop or Hitta Hem are fine examples of this, each track following a similar template and providing some of the most intense moments of this record. It takes some time for Oskärpa to evolve from the gentle melody and calm environments of its first half into the richer formations of its latter section, but when the piece finally erupts into layers of saturated noise, it does so in very elegant fashion. Tolvupop doesn’t quite reach the same level of intensity, but Levander compensates by moving the piece at a much faster pace. The opening moment of Hitta Hem see a short repetitive theme played on an acoustic guitar finding its way through dense layers while tiny sounds give the impression of being on a pavement in the rain, but the backdrop progressively develops and take centre stage as grittier elements are introduced.

Elsewhere, Levander chooses to focus more exclusively on delicate pieces, at times giving them an almost orchestral feel. On Månen Viskar, Levander builds evanescent strips from lonely clarinet sequences, which are layered to form melancholic harmonic phrases. Alone at first, they are progressively surrounded by stuttering electronics and rarefied chords. Vid Fönstret slowly rises above a recurring guitar line to incorporate the more stringent sound of an oud while atmospheric clouds linger in the background. With Tribut, Levander strips down his composition entirely, exposing his classical roots for a moment as he solely relies on a piano, while Sömnbrusten, which closes Kondens, is a rather fine piece which finds itself at the confluent of electronica and isolationism.

With his second effort, Erik Levander has had to face great challenges, but the result is surprisingly peaceful and delicate. He never veers far from his chosen path, but, far from sounding uniform, it give Kondens great consistency and serves the poetry which informs the music very well indeed.

4.4/5

Erik Levander | Rumraket
Buy: iTunes

CANON BLUE
Halcyon EP
Rumraket 2007
04 Tracks. 17mins10secs
Format: Digital

Following the release of his debut album as Canon Blue, New Orleans-based Daniel James dropped a perfectly formed four-track EP in Rumraket’s stocking just before Christmas. The EP, which is available to download for free from the Canon Blue Myspace and Rumraket sites (see below), features four brand new tracks, recorded in November 2007 in his bedroom, with a handful of friends lending a hand. Halcyon is, according to James, a celebration of winter, a period during which he feels particularly creative.

Set in a similar style to James’s excellent Colonies album, the songs collected here denote however a gentle evolution in the way James assembles his pop songs and gives them a definite edge. The melodies appear more confident and refined, the soundscapes are increasingly cinematic and the vocal performances have gained in definition, yet the songs still have a subtle air of naivety about them.

As the opening title track rises from initial processed guitar stutter and progressively swells into an intricately layered orchestral noise cloud before dying all too suddenly on a single note, James clearly reassess the space within his music by bringing forward real instrumentation and taming down his more technological side so it works in perfect symbiosis. Ennui, (French for boredom), shows a similar approach as a piano cascades down on a catchy melody which appears in turn uplifting or melancholic, while the firmly paced beat which seats in the background works as a tempered counterpoint to James’s vocals. Avatar Furr is a much more upbeat and pressing affair, but the melody ebbs and flows as the beat retires for a moment, leaving for a moment the orchestral drapes and swirling piano lines to lead. The highlight of this EP comes with the cinematic closing piece, Kingfisher Sweet, as James the singer steps back to leave James the musician sole at the helm of this ambitious miniature pop epic.

With this excellent new EP, Daniel James refines his sound and steps up the pace from his debut album, revealing a much wider and evocative sound while retaining the very essence of Colonies. Not to be missed!

4.3/5

Canon Blue (MySpace) | Rumraket

The Efterklang caravan stopped in London’s Bush Hall on Friday, as part of their two-week-long tour of the UK. Taking their Parades album, released a couple of months ago, on an extensive international tour, the Danish quintet and their troops couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate venue. Formerly known as the Carlton Dance Hall, Bush Hall, in the heart of West London’s Sheppard’s Bush, was built at the beginning of the twentieth Century by William F. Hurndall, a publisher, as a gift for one of his daughters. It has since been a soup kitchen during the Second World War, and was, in the fifties and sixties, turned into a bingo hall and amusement arcade, before being turned into a concert venue at the turn of the millennium. The highly ornate ceilings and walls have been preserved, and grand chandeliers offer a testament to the place’s former grandeur.

Prior to the band going on stage, Denis Jones (whose performance was missed by this reviewer), and multi-instrumentist Peter Broderick were in charge of the warm up sessions. The latter delivered a blinding solo performance and managed to practically steal the evening. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Broderick plays a wide range of instruments, including, but not restricted to, piano, violin, guitar, musical saw and drums, and also sings. His performance began with a series of violin swathes, played and recorded, then looped while he added more layers, before switching to the piano and continue building up his wonderfully evocative pieces. Melancholic, yet inspiring, Broderick’s music had a rather busy Bush Hall in awe. His dexterity at developing pieces out of nothing, building them into full entities, captivated and engaged his audience intensely. Toward the end of his set, he gave an interpretation of a song taken from the soundtrack of a Swedish movie. Having built up vocal harmonies and layers of accompaniment on the piano, he invited the entire live formation of Efterklang on stage to join in with the singing, and promptly got the audience engaged too. Broderick has just released his first single on Type, with an album to follow in the new year. If this live performance and the tour CD which sold out in minutes at end, are anything to go by, he is one of the talents to watch in 2008.

Following a short break, Efterklang and friends took over the stage, all, apart from pianist Anna Brønsted, wearing black shirts and breeches. The usual formation of Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Thomas Husmer, Rune Mølgaard and Rasmus Solberg was augmented with trombonist Niklas Antonson, Anna Brønsted and Broderick on violin and, toward the end of the show, drums. Kicking off with a testosterone-fuelled Polygyne, which had singer Clausen frantically tormenting a set of drums while organised chaos was taking shape being him, the Efterklang machine was soon speeding ahead at full steam, barely stopping to catch their breath between songs. Reading through the majority of Parades, from the highs of Mirador, Horseback Tenors and Caravan to the elegant simplicity of Him Poe Poe and Cutting Ice To Snow, and injecting an ounce of Under Giant Trees (Himmelbjerget) before turning their attention to a few old pieces, the formation delivered a very enthusiastic and energetic set.

Stripped down from their orchestral sheen, the Parades songs were seemingly rougher and edgier, with Solberg and Brauer left to fill in the gaps with added guitar and electronic textures, and Clausen to superimpose drums and percussions. Mirador and Horseback Tenors in particular were delivered with an urgency that had very little echo in the band’s discography. This certainly didn’t work against the band though, and a Bush Hall filled to the brim showed its appreciation. Older compositions, amongst which Swarming stood out undeniably, provided the band with an opportunity to give the electronic textures, clicks and static crackles that characterised their early work an airing and remind the audience of the journey covered in by the band in the last three years. By the time they came back for an encore, delivering a heart-warming Chapter 6, Efterklang had once again Bush Hall singing its heart out, leaving the audience enchanted and inviting them to say hello in the foyer after the performance.

Efterklang have, with Under Giant Trees and Parades, delivered two of the most fascinating and compulsive record this year, but the supreme complexity of the latter could have proved rather difficult to transfer to the stage. As it stands, Efterklang have managed to do this rather well, and if the performance felt at time slightly chaotic, it is surely because, after spending much time working on finely tuning their studio pieces, Efterklang are now indulging in much deserved spontaneity, and put it to rather excellent use.

Efterklang | Peter Broderick (Myspace) | The Leaf Label | Rumraket | Type Recording

EFTERKLANG
Parades
BAY58CD
Rumraket / The Leaf Label 2007
11 Tracks. 48mins59secs

Formed in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of 2000 by Mads Brauer (electronics), Casper Clausen (vocals, various instruments), Thomas Husner (drums, percussions and trumpet), Rune Mølgaard (piano) and Rasmus Stolberg (guitar and various instruments), Efterklang, which translates as reverberation, appeared on the international scene with debut album for Leaf, Tripper, in 2004, although they had previously released an EP the previous year on their own imprint, Rumraket. With Tripper, Efterklang painted intimate soundscapes from clicks, statics and environmental electronics upon which hung orchestral waves and occasional acoustic flourishes, with male and female vocals tightly intertwined with the instrumental parts and a Greenlandish choir adding a further emotional touch to the quintet’s ambitious boreal songs. Followed a digital-only EP, Swarming, in 2005 and a very limited one-sided LP in 2006. Earlier this year, the band returned with Under Giant Trees, a magnificent mini album recorded last year while on tour.

On Parades, Efterklang dress their ephemeral pop songs in much more precious and grand attires. The quirky electronics and timid orchestrations have been relegated to the back, replaced by rich organic orchestral tones applied in generous brushes. The quintet have surrounded themselves with no less than thirty musicians, including regular live contributors plus a string quartet, a brass quartet and three different choirs. Far from being the result of a continuous effort, Parades is the fruit of months or trials and errors during which layers were added, subtracted, developed in various ways before each song could eventually take shape. This results in incredibly detailed and precise sound formations with dense layers and variations, as demonstrated on opening piece Polygne. The song sets off with rarefied particles of strings, but soon a choir washes over and the piece grows in stature, served by a melody rich in twists and turns and a superbly controlled orchestration which sees in turn a strings quartet, a choir and a lone piano lead, Clausen’s hushed vocals floating slightly in the back of the scope.

With Mirrador, Him Poe Poe and Horseback Tenors, Efterklang only build on this original sonic firework by introducing sweeping brass, organ, plucked harp strings, crystalline pianos and choral eruptions, each piece appearing more ornate and complex than the one before. This however only contributes to the songs being more consistent and accentuates the enchanting nature of the band’s music. A bit like an old animated movie triggers forgotten childhood memories, the luxuriance of the soundtrack put together by Efterklang acts as a deflector from reality.

Following a short piano interlude (Mimeo), Frida Found A Friend pushes in more experimental terrains. While the band still make good use of the orchestral arsenal at their disposition, they give their crispy electronics an airing for a moment, but as the song progresses and Clausen finds a welcoming ground for his lyrical flakes, it is the choir which becomes predominant, waxing and waning with the instrumentation in the backdrop. Later, Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles is another delicate slice of frosty pop, which, like a fragile thread of icy silk caught between two branches, links the contrasted grounds of Maison De Réflexion and the wonderfully ecstatic Caravan, which is not without recalling Sufjan Stevens’ Come On! Feel The Illinoise!. With hints of dissonant string work and much more subtle variations in its central theme, the instrumental Illuminant takes this album in a slightly more introvert mood, and the melancholic opening of Cutting Ice To Snow could lead to think that the album is about close on a down note, but the band injects a last blast of energy by bringing a relentless beat and all joining in with Clausen on vocal duties for a rather stunning finale.

With Parades, Efterklang have transcended their original sound and considerably developed the scope of their music.. As the band’s records become more ambitious with each release, Efterklang seem to carry them with increasing confidence and maturity. Parades is, quite simply, a masterpiece.

5/5

Efterklang | Rumraket | The Leaf Label
Buy: CD | LP | iTunes

CANON BLUE
Colonies
RUM010
Rumraket 2007
11 Tracks. 43mins55secs

Signed to Efterklang’s Rumraket imprint, which originally spawned Grizzly Bear, Canon Blue is singer song writer Daniel James. Originally from Virginia, James moved to New Orleans in early 2005 where he found himself playing guitar in a band. However, things soon turned sour and he returned to Virginia, escaping the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina by a couple of weeks. He now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

James shows a taste for catchy melodies which are then wrapped in distortions, treated guitars, electronics and acoustic instrumentation, which is not without recalling Echoboy or Khonnor. Colonies, his debut album, was partly composed on his grand mother’s piano before recording each song in his bedroom. He plays virtually all the instruments and also takes on all vocal duties, with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor on mixing duties. Claiming influences ranging from Claude Debussy, Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg to Autechre, Boards Of Canada and Super_Collider, James creates here an album rich in textures and sounds where delicate melodies are given widescreen arrangements, often turning them into quietly cinematic pieces.

Although the music tentatively leans toward pop and rock forms, this is only a loose framework for James, who continuously brings on elements of folk and electronica to punctuate his songs. If the format is neither original nor groundbreaking, it is developed and applied with great care and conviction. Songs such as the softly focused Treehouse, Rum Diary or Odds And Ends or the more angular Battle Hymn are as many atmospheric shades, ranging from light and airy guitars to distorted and fragmented soundscapes, coiled tightly around strong melodic themes. On Sea Monsters, Mouth To Mouth and closing Baptesme, James opts for much more openly evocative arrangements serving sweeping melodies to great effect.

At times, James’s vocals vaguely recalls Jeff Buckley, especially on opener Treehouse, or a much more restrained Thom York, but these passing resemblances thankfully never overshadow his effort. Colonies appears at once slightly naïve in its approach and confident in execution, making it an inviting debut album and a strong addition to the consistently excellent Rumraket catalogue.

3.9/5

Canon Blue | Rumraket
Buy: CD | iTunes

A little over three years ago, a formation answering to the mysterious name of Efterklang and hailing from Denmark appeared with their debut album, Tripper, and rapidly gathered critical acclaim and respect. The re-release of the band’s debut EP, Springer, originally released in 2003, a year before the album, and a limited edition one-sided LP, confirmed the band as one of the most interesting acts to have come out of Denmark. Following the release of the superb Under Giant Trees EP earlier this year, Efterklang return with their second album, Parades, on which they have developed an entirely new approach, more focused on acoustic instrumentation. In this interview, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg talk about what influences them, how their new album came to life, running their own record label and playing live is like playing football.

You formed Efterklang in 2001. How did you all meet and how did the idea of forming the band come up?

Mads & Rasmus know each other from kindergarten and have played in bands together since fifth grade. In high school they befriended Casper and started playing together with him as well. After a couple of years their small hometown/island in the countryside felt too small and without much planning it was decided to move to Copenhagen the capital… We searched for musicians and through friends we met Thomas and Rune in December 2000. That was the start of Efterklang. All five of us spend years rehearsing and writing together until we felt ready to share the music with others. This was more than two years later.

We had no specific “idea” about the band before we started. The only thing we cared about was the wish to try to make music we could call our own.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

We would try to explain that the music is experimental and very multi layered with a vast number of different instruments, but also very accessible and melodic. We think our music has romantic tendencies and is a sort of adventurous eccentric pop music.

Who has influenced you in your work?

In recent years it has been Spirit Of Eden by Talk Talk, Scott Walker, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Clogs, Popul Vuh, Einstürzende Neubauten, Arvo Pärt, Xiu Xiu, Moondog, Joe Meek and many other great musicians and artists. Filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch and The Brothers Quay also keep inspiring us.

Your first album was very well received both by the press and by the public. How did you react to the reception your music received?

At that time we did not know what to expect. We all felt we had made a good album, but we were quite awestruck by the reaction we received. It was a nice thing to experience.

Earlier on this year, you released a mini album, Under Giant Trees, which was conceived and recorded while you were touring. Does it mean that it was a very different record from the others for you?

Yes the songs were written as an eight-piece live band and debuted on stage. The way we have made Parades is different in the way that we have not been able to play them as a band at anytime during the recordings. Right now we are learning to play them as a live band. We like both of these ways of making music.

Your new album, Parades, is out pretty soon. Your sound has evolved quite a bit from Tripper, on which you used a fair bit of electronics, to now where the focus is much more on acoustic instruments. Can you tell us how you worked on the album, and whether the recording process was very different from Tripper?

As you say, Tripper was mainly an electronic record where we used many acoustic instruments to create the whole. Parades can be described as an acoustic record where we use electronics and which is very electronic in the way it is produced. We basically wanted the album to be more dynamic and the overall sound to feel more textured and acoustic…

You’ve worked with a lot of people over eighteen months for the new album. How do you keep track of what you want to achieve?

Part of it are dreams that come true about having a string quartet and a choir recorded in a church for example, part of it is trial and error. A lot is well planned and recorded after quite a detailed plan.

There is a very dreamy feel to the whole album, with very rich soundscapes and multiple vocal and melodic layers pretty much all the way through. What did you have in mind when you started working on the album, and is the result close to this or did you find that you went in directions you hadn’t expected?

The album pretty much took its form along on the way. It started out being small sketches and ideas on our computer. We started adding new pieces to these loose ideas or simply combined some of them to one structure. After a period of messing around with all sorts of combinations and experiments, it felt like some sort of an image was appearing. Kind of like putting a grand puzzle together, while at the same time not knowing what the finished result would look like. I mean we expected making something like this album turned out, but we didn’t have a clear vision when we started.

How do you work on new compositions? Do you have a set way of working, and is this usually a collective process?

It is mainly Mads and Casper who compose the songs, but these compositions are usually based on recordings that all members take part in. For instance this could be a song build on a piano piece/idea by Rune or simply a few of us playing around with some instruments while the tape is running. While the songs are progressing we all take part in brainstorming ideas and playing the additional instruments.

Danish artist Nan Na Hvass created the artwork for both Under Giant Trees and Parades. How did you come across her work and how did you decide to get her to do these covers?

Nan Na and Rasmus meet each other at a party about three years ago. Nan Na thought Efterklang was an a cappella boys choir when Rasmus bragged about it. They have been together ever since and this is the way we came across her work. She has taken our press-photos over the last years, she has designed Rumraket.net for us and most important these two fantastic sleeves. We wanted something imaginative and layered that would send a message about the many hours, and thoughts that have gone into making this music. Nan Na succeeded in making the artwork beautiful, magic and dense at the same time.

Your first EP was released in 2003 on Rumraket, your record label, before being picked up by Leaf. Did you originally set up the label to make it easier to release your music or did you already have the intention to promote other artists?

No plans in the beginning. In fact we invented Rumraket to make Springer look more important. We made the 500 copies to sell to friends mainly and to send to record labels and concert promoters – we had the impression it would look more professional if there was a label name on the disc. Later on a lot of plans emerged!

How did you get involved with Leaf?

While we were making Tripper we posted out work in progress and rough-cuts to a select group of labels. Leaf got in touch just as we were about to release it on Rumraket. There was a lot of trouble with getting them to Denmark to see us perform live. It never happened actually but Robin Rimbaud (AKA Scanner) saw us and gave his stamp of approval to Leaf.

You also take care of the management of the band’s career yourselves. Is it important for you to retain as much control over the band as possible and why?

We have often been described as control-freaks in regards to the music we make. Perhaps this also goes for all the things around the music. The main reason that we take care of our own business is because we have a member who enjoys doing this and who is as good as most professional managers and such people.

The mini album you released on Leaf earlier this year, Under Giant Trees, was a limited release, and you also released a very limited one sided LP on Burnt Toast Vinyl. Why did you choose to limit the number of copies for these?

It is nice to make special limited editions. It makes it possible to do special things with artwork and such. We used to make handmade covers for our old records. We would love to start doing that again – it is a question of having the time to do it. When a release is limited it also makes the whole thing feel more as a nice gem or something.

Through Rumraket, you regularly release records by new artists. You released the first Grizzly Bear album for instance, and in recent months, records from Slaraffenland, Swedish sisters Taxi Taxi! and now American musician Canon Blue. How do you choose to release an artist, and are you all involved in the running of the label?

It is primarily Rasmus who is in charge of the actual running of the label. We all discuss the music and we all have to agree on the artists we sign. We found Canon Blue on MySpace same thing goes with Taxi Taxi! Erik Levander and Slaraffenland are our friends in Copenhagen, and they happen to make some of our favorite music. Grizzly Bear emailed us a long time ago and asked for a remix. We agreed to do it and asked if we could release their album in Europe in return.

How did you react when Grizzly Bear signed to Warp?

When they signed with Warp we were quite proud. It was sort of a proof for us that we have good ears.

One of the tracks from Tripper, Collecting Shields, was recently included on a compilation CD put together by author John Connolly, accompanying his most recent book, The Unquiet. The CD collects songs that played a role in the book or inspired him to write. What did you think of the project, and have you read the book? Did you feel a connection with your music?

We only have one copy and Thomas is stalling it. We should get him to pass it on ASAP. This is embarrassing! But we loved the idea and the project! We wish more writers would do such things. All of us have examples of records we have listened to while reading a certain book and sometimes the two art forms just melt into one…

Would you consider working on a soundtrack, and what kind of films would you like to score?

Mads and Casper have already scored a Danish animation feature by Anders Morgenthaler and we hope to be able to work on projects like that again. If any directors are reading this then please get in touch!

You have toured quite regularly since the release of Springer and Tripper. Do you enjoy playing live more than recording?

The way we record and play live is very different. We enjoy both forms. One thing, which is nice about playing live, is the feeling of playing a song together, eight people as one big united creature. Our recordings are often much more fragmented and are more like trying to finish a very confusing computer game. You are not sure where you are going and you have to invent things and solutions along the way to succeed. Playing live is like playing football together.

You are just about to embark on quite a long tour to support the release of Parades, and you will be joined by three additional musicians on stage. What can we expect of Efterklang live this time round?

It is actually four extra musicians this time. We have expanded. One thing to look forward to is that we now can perform our choir arrangements live. We have 6 gifted singers in the band now and one is a girl so we can finally also do the male/female vocals that can be heard on our records. The new live show is more energetic, raw and sometimes quite rocking in our own way of course. We won’t bring visuals this time (at least not for the first part of the tour), which means we will be performing more this time. No shoegazing.

How do you think Efterklang will continue to evolve? Do you already have an idea of which direction you want to go?

We are talking about directions or ideas we would like to try-out. But first we need to get some distance with the recording of Parades and also get the tour going before we start thinking of new recordings.

Parades is out on 15 October on Rumraket/The Leaf Label
Email interview with Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg, September 2007

Efterklang | Rumraket | The Leaf Label

EFTERKLANG
Under Giant Trees
DOCK46CD
The Leaf Label 2007
05 Tracks. 29mins11secs

Copenhagen-based outfit Efterklang caused something of a stir as they deployed their elegant pastoral pop songs over the course of Tripper, their debut album, released in the autumn of 2004 on Leaf. In just under an hour, the quintet, formed of Mads Brauer (electronics), Rune Mølgaard (piano), Thomas Husmer (drums) and multi instrumentists Rasmus Solberg and Casper Clausen, the latter also assuming vocal duties, hung up beautiful crafted songs set in scintillating backdrops of pianos, strings and found sounds. The album followed a previous EP, Springer, originally published on the band’s own Rumraket imprint in 2003 before Leaf released it early again in 2005. Efterklang have since released a very limited one-sided vinyl EP at the end of 2006.

Under Giant Trees comes in a fold out packaging with stunning illustrations from Danish artist Nan Ha Hvass, who captures the spirit of the music particularly well here. The five tracks featured on this mini album were devised as additional pieces to be performed during the band’s 2005 tour and were recorded in the band’s studio when Efterklang returned to Copenhagen. Moving away from the naïve melodies of previous releases, these are sweeping songs for drunks and sailors, torn between the somber atmospheres of Matt Elliott and the cinematic melancholy of Yann Tiersen. Falling Horses and Towards The Bare Hill especially stagger over emotional melodies and appear to progress with no particular aim as melodies and orchestrations revolve unsteadily around each other, but they are finely tuned indeed and crafted in the most exquisite fashion. Himmelbjerget waxes and waning gracefully between soft string work and orchestral grandeur, while Hands Playing Butterfly reveals a much more nocturnal tone as a lonely piano snakes its way through sparse string work. The album concludes with the delightful Jojo, which somewhat fails in its mission to bring the listener gently back to reality, flourishing instead with increasing gleam and panache as the end nears.

For this release, the delicate sound formations which was at the heart of the band’s early work have largely been replace with ambitious melodic structures and rich orchestrations, but they are still heard furtively lurking in the background, emerging at the first sign of a calm moment, only to be buried under more ambitious arrangements again. As Efterklang push deeper into their magical sonic world, Under Giant Trees is a magnificent appetiser to the follow up to Tripper, due out toward the end of the year.

Explore: Efterklang | The Leaf Label
Buy: CD | LP | iTunes