Tokafi (.COM)

Murralin Lane are a Swedish duo fairly new on the scene comprised of David Wenngren and Ylva Wiklund. You’ll no doubt be familiar with David’s other moniker Library Tapes but here he joins forces with partner Ylva to create somewhat of a new sound. Anybody expecting to hear the piano will be pleasantly surprised…

Their debut release <i>Our House is on The Wall</i>, available from today, is full of stutters yet manages a certain amount of fluidity that is admirable; it has stillness but at the same time chaos and most passages are formed of intense grain. Wiklund layers her vocals atop the glittery textures that find their way bounding along gracefully throughout it’s 32 minute run time.

It takes a little time for the album to find its feet but from track 4 onwards the album really does well to grip the listener. The processing takes center stage and the detail that went into the recording is heard well. ‘In The Woods’ is a good example of where the processing goes well beyond simply time-stretching and abandoning. A great deal of care has gone into the processing and It is clear that the duo know what they’re doing in this respect.

‘She Collected’ and ‘When I Told You’ finish off the album by letting Ylva’s vocals really take the stage. Previously the vocals had become one with the soundscapes adding depth to the sound but in the final minutes of the record the voice is drawn out of hiding. It’s a progressive album where the vocals reveal themselves over time. They stay hidden when they make their dreamy entrance on ‘Folding Paper Planes’ and perhaps dreamy is the best adjective to use. The album creates an intense feeling that the listener is in fact intruding on a lost friends dream. It almost sounds as if Murralin Lane are guiding the listener through the city hunting for a lost friend, but everything sounds wrong and nothing makes sense. You are aware of a distant voice calling as it gradually gets closer as you find your way through the soundscape.

It’s just the start for Murralin Lane, and I believe that with time they can improve their cohesion of the vocals and the drones as at times they could seem slightly removed from one another. However, on tracks such as ‘When I Told You’ the vocals really seem to add what is needed to the soundbed. This is the track where the vocals are most impressive and dive seamlessly in and out of the sea of sound. It’s an interesting album that is somewhat fresh in the use of vocals.

– Review by Simon James French for Fluid Radio