ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - The Miraculous

In the vast, almost overabundant wave of new muses of "dark" singer-songwriting, Anna von Hausswolff seems in some ways to be the most nostalgic: across her three albums, the Swedish artist has sought to establish the pipe organ as the principal instrument of this dark neoclassical revival, using it to recapture the sacred atmospheres of the last strongholds of 80s-90s gothic; hers is thus a style and an attitude decidedly old-fashioned compared to peers such as Mamiffer (who nonetheless struck upon a similar idea), Soap&Skin, Julia Holter and Zola Jesus – the latter two currently working in territory quite opposite to their artistic origins.

Already with the previous "Ceremony" (2013), the singer's opus wrapped itself in an aura of solemnity, both in word and in sonic grandeur, and with "The Miraculous" it comes even closer to fulfilling that promise. As in a religious service, the shadowy movements are often introduced by antiphons for solo organ, of clear minimalist descent and underpinned by the drone bass of the pedals. Not a particularly gifted vocalist, Anna nonetheless possesses a distinctive timbre, somewhere between Geneviève Beaulieu and the Susanne Sundfør of "The Brothel".

Joining her prominence are the doom guitars of Joel Fabiansson and Karl Vento and the drums of Ulrik Ording, shaping and alternating between tragic, perfectly self-contained ballads ("Pomperipossa", "Evocation") and more isolated sketches and interludes, left to their own devices without being developed to the same degree of significance ("The Hope Only Of Empty Men", "An Oath").

But the greatest achievement of stylistic maturity, and the undisputed expressive core of the album, lies in the two-part crescendo of "Come Wander With Me/Deliverance", a funereal monument of unrepeatable intensity in which Anna also delivers a remarkable vocal performance, utterly entranced by the thickening of an ever more overwhelming drone; in the second section, it is again the syncopated stoner guitars and the martial tread of the drums that fragment the acoustic monolith, steering the dramatic peak toward more contemporary and familiar, yet no less effective, paths.

Equally long, the title track lacks such strong characterization, settled as it is on the organ's insistent bass line, crossed by evanescent vocalizations that fade away as a menacing Ligeti-like dissonance emerges, which (fails to) resolve the piece.

Decidedly unexpected is the neofolk-flavored closer "Stranger" – complete with acoustic guitar and distant, vibrating chimes – the last in a series of expressive "experiments" that, while making the listen less demanding on one hand, diminish the remarkable achievements reached in the more elaborate tracks on the other.

Once she commits fully to the distinctive traits of her own style, Anna von Hausswolff will likely prove to be the most convincing and representative rising talent in her field.

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15/11/2015