I like Tunng. It’s a really good word. It sounds good to say, like ‘tongue,’ but somehow more visceral- you savour the sound as it comes out of your mouth. I may just sound nuts but I do genuinely like language that much. t’s fun. It feels good to make those sounds.
Much like this band. I saw them about a year ago when they were touring with the wonderful Tinariwen as part of some grand and worthy cultural experiment about combination of cultures, which was actually about having a grand good time. It was one of the most genuinely diverse line-ups I’ve ever seen. There was usually about six people on stage at a time, with Tuareg instruments, electronic beats, pottery drums, guitars and banjos were all mashed up together in a wonderful, riotous mess. I guess they’re folktronica. The thing is, out of all the bands I’ve heard called that, Tunng are the one who seem to have understand that if you’re going to use all these other instruments, you’ve got to give them heart. I think they’re fairly unique in this, though I would also say bands like Found, Lemon Jelly, The Acorn and perhaps at times the Guillemots are wandering through the same musical landscape.
Tunng. Cheery bunch, eh?
And so to the album- it’s called ‘And Then We Saw Land’ and it’s their fourth. It’s probably a progression from their early works, realising the potential they displayed. Yeah, all of that most likely. I don’t actually know, to be honest, I’ve only heard this album. Most people writing reviews probably won’t admit that. That either makes me refreshing or unprofessional, take your pick, maggots.
but my goodness, this is a beautiful assortment of songs which lodge in the brain, in very different ways. Opener ‘Hustle’ fades up with a strange, pulsating synth sound which gives way to a jaunty acoustic guitar figure and a song which seems to be about someone being gone, but that not being such a bad thing after all- ‘And I will Hustle, Hustle, Hustle to be free,’ singer Sam Genders intones, joy in his voice. Things have been bad, but they ain’t going to get him down.
And so it is throughout the album. There’s undercurrents of melancholy here and there, sad little recollections of regrets and missed turnings (I think that this album may have been written during a break-up, but not a particularly bad one) which are there, but are somewhat overshadowed by the sheer joy of life, and of finding out what’s next.
Standout tracks for me are ‘Sushimi,’ a big, epic chant-along with fantastic drums on it, ‘The Roadside,’ which a naggingly catchy hymn to movement and progression, and ‘don’t look down or back’ which sounds like the feeling of waking up on a summer morning., and talks about a girl waking up alone and coming to terms with it.
Yes, this is a complex beating heart under that cheerful exterior. Tunng have cried and felt so sad, but they never forgot how to dance.
