CD: Tunng - This is Tunng Live From the BBC | reviews, news & interviews
CD: Tunng - This is Tunng... Live From the BBC
CD: Tunng - This is Tunng... Live From the BBC
The brilliance of the folktronicists songwriting emerges in live sessions
Tunng are not as kooky as they might appear. Yes there is a preponderance of beards in their extensive lineup, and a rather byzantine tale to how that lineup has evolved over the years. And yes, their songs include bone percussion, electronic glitches, melodicas, clarinets, snippets of sampled beat poetry, collaborations with Saharan desert musicians and lyrics from the perspective of a dead man forgiving the brother that killed him (“Jenny Again”). OK, they're a bit kooky.
Onstage is where this has always come to the fore, so it makes complete sense that their first career retrospective should be made up of live sessions for various BBC shows. Here, acoustic performances of “Hustle” and “With Whiskey” show exactly how much an abiding love for the sounds of human voices and fingers on acoustic guitar strings are at the heart of Tunng songs. Their cover versions of Bloc Party's “Pioneers” (originally released as a single in 2006) and Blue Pearl's early 90s rave-pop “Naked in the Rain” show how it's possible to be rousing and delicate at the same time.
“Tamatant Tilay” from their Radio 3 sessions with Touareg troubadours Tinariwen, meanwhile, stirs ticking drum machines and an art-pop mentality into the desert blues, somehow fusing both acts' distinctive characters without compromising either, the emergent result oddly reminiscent of a 21st century JJ Cale. Throughout, the feel is strange and dreamlike but also, to quote one of their earliest song titles, “Beautiful and Light”: these are songs that float into your back brain and remain there like benevolent ghosts, haunting your internal jukebox from first listen. Seriously: really lovely.
Watch Tunng perform "Hustle" acoustically, in a farmyard:
rating
Buy
Explore topics
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Add comment