You
might remember Kelli Ali from her days as lead singer of dark
trip-hoppers Sneaker Pimps. Responsible for monolithic club hits
like ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ and ‘6 Underground’,
her deliciously smoky vocals lit up the heavy beats and breaks
and fascinated a generation of clubbers and producers alike. After
curiously being booted out, she went on to record 2 solo releases
which showcased a more ambient dreampop persona but now on her
third release, she has completely abandoned her electro roots
in favour of a timeless brand of pastoral-folk. Influenced by
her nomadic past, wherein she travelled across California and
Mexico, she playfully combines medieval and baroque sensibilities
with dark nu-folk to produce a sparsely arranged and deeply emotive
exploration of the female voice. Produced by Max Richter, they
join forces to conjure up richly textured cinemascope tapestries.
At
its best, ‘Rocking Horse’ plows the noir-ish and poignant
depths of candle-lit leftfield folk. ’One Day at a Time’
stuns with its emotional, slow-burning astral folk which takes
cues from Felt Mountain era Goldfrapp at their most magical, whilst
the beautifully executed ‘The Savages’ rekindles the
60’s medieval psychedelica of Linda Perhacs. You would expect
to find the swirling psyche-laced Americana of title track ‘Rocking
Horse’ on the avant-rock Neurot label, what, with it treading
a buoyant path that continuously threatens to explode through
its emotively arranged utilisation of muffled whispers, low-end
percussives and atmospheric textures. ‘The Kiss’ follows
suit in a more tender vein before ‘Flowers’ ambles
with devastating subtly and melancholic prowess- its haunting
and spectral lament making full use of Richter’s rich and
eerie textures. Littered between these tracks are breezier, upbeat
pieces that forgo the ghostly ambience of the aforementioned tracks
in favour of a more straight-edged folk-pop approach. Near the
end of the album, lead single ‘What to Do’ combines
the best of both worlds by fusing the optimistic with the haunting
to create a dreamy slice of vintage, cabaret-esque lounge-jazz
that burns deep into the cerebral.
‘Rocking
Horse’ succeeds as a supremely powerful slice of dark pastoral
folk that creates a dreamy and enchanting atmosphere that is as
vintage as it is timeless. Richter’s classical background
has been utilised to its fullest, carving out sparkling yet sparse
arrangements that bring into play a host of instruments including
string quartet, flute arrangements, cor anglais and vintage organs
alongside the masterful acoustic guitar playing of Marc Pilley
and Richter’s own piano work. The more upbeat and straight-edged
songs found littered across 'Rocking Horse' create variation and
unwittingly serve to accentuate the darker offerings but at the
same time, they tend to remove the listener from the cosmic netherworld
Ali and Richter had worked so hard to transport them to. (KS)
For fans of: Beth Gibbons, early Goldfrapp, Linda Perhacs
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