Halves: Boa Howl

Boa Howl is a Googlewhack. Well, it used to be a Googlewhack until Dublin band Halves appropriated the words for their album title. It refers to the name of a mountain summit in China and the remote, towering symbolism of this natural feature is perfectly apt for the dense, sky-scraping music found on the trio's second LP.

Immaculately self-produced and recorded on 2" reel-to-reel tape during a fortnight at Gothenburg's famous Svenska Grammofon Studion, Boa Howl pushes onwards and upwards from It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever), their Choice Prize-nominated debut.

Where that album basked in a foreboding darkness, this one embraces contrast; it scolds with abrasive musical thrusts then immediately soothes with cotton-wool ambient textures. Joined at various junctures by Gemma Hayes, Canadian harpist Elaine Kelly-Canning and local Swedish string players, the multi-instrumental members offer a cohesive collection of songs that sound alien and ethereal yet earthly and warm and it's that balance between melody and abstraction that keeps Boa Howl on the accessible side of experimental.

The 11 songs are electronically salted then liberally peppered with Radiohead-style unease (on the opener, Drumhunter, and the off-beat piano-based Drip Pools, vocalist Tim Czerniak sounds uncannily like Thom Yorke ) and the textured, choral glitch-pop of Tripper-era Efterklang (Tanager Peak and Polynia).

It's in the details that Boa Howl stands out: harp parts replace obvious guitar lines, string arrangements dip, chop and soar, subtle beats come and go, deep brass notes augment and the many layers of vocals mix into a sublime sonic mix. Nothing is misplaced, nothing is extraneous. Halves have again shown they have the prowess to match, and exceed, their lofty ambitions.
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Download: Drumhunter, The Glass Wreckage, Best Summer, Let Them Come