PIKELET – STEM
Evelyn Morris seemingly makes music as a science experiment – famous in Australia for her nymph-like voice and uncannily synchronous looping of percussion instruments and guitars in her live sets, she returns for a second album of twisted folk tales, this time with a full band to back up her sonic experiments. Stem is a very whole record – in the sense that Morris has designed a very clever narrative here; most pieces begin with extended instrumental passages, bridging the thematic gap between the lyrical songs in a continuous musical journey that is full of great surprises. Some of her Casio-infused pop nerd-dom comes out in Toby Light, and she delivers some arresting Celtic dirges in Pillow Castle and Swooping Buzzards, recalling that same eerie convergence of English folk and modern techniques that made Fairport’s Liege and Lief so captivating. What makes this record stand out from other multi-tracked folky trips is that Morris never lets the process obscure the songs; beneath all the carefully placed bleeps, bird noises, ticks and shuffling drums are some very fine songs indeed.
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