Before I really dig into Tunng album "…And Then We Saw Land," just one warning: This is not a style of music that the majority of people will like.
Tunng is a very odd combination of folk music and electronic music that, while some people will think is crazy and ridiculous and awesome, most people will not want to listen to. Think of MGMT, but more folk, less electronica and a lot less druggy and messed up.
If this sounds like something you might be interested in, keep reading. If not, please stop and go away.
I've never really listened to a style of music quite like this before, and although it took a few album play-throughs, I find that I kind of, sort of like it. Tunng manages to take two genres that I would have never associated with each other — folk and electronic — and meld them in an odd, strange way that still somehow works.
The first single from "…And Then We Saw Land," "Hustle," is a great example of this. It starts out distorted, but then suddenly transitions into what sounds like a pretty standard folk song, no electronic treatment. It stays in this vein for a while, but then gradually electronic elements are added back in, until finally by the end, these elements overtake the folksy ones.
The rest of the album is a similar mix of electronic and folk. Some songs are mostly folk, some are mostly electronic and some are a pretty even mix of both.
Even after listening through the whole thing multiple times, I still can't exactly describe what I like about it. I really like "Hustle," but after that the album just blends together, flowing from electronic to folk and processed to wholly natural music.
The best way to describe it is by comparing it to dipping French fries in a milkshake: It sounds disgusting, but God help me if you try and don't think it is the most divine combination since celery and peanut butter. You can't really explain why it's so good, but it is, so you just enjoy it and try not read too deeply into it. That is what Tunng and "…And Then We Saw Land" is: If you like it, you like it, if you don't, you don't. If your interested, give it a listen and if your not, well, I told you to go away about two paragraphs ago.
3 Shamrocks
Contact Declan Sullivan at dsulliv9@nd.edu
