Annelies Monsere

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5...according to our Brett on Thu 17 Sep, 2009.

I remember reviewing an Annelies Monsere 7" a while back and thinking it was really very good so it's nice to see that Phil's placed Marit, her new CD, into the chute down in the foyer for delivery into Norman Towers office #7765 for me to review. I'd send him a 'thank you' note but Brian shat in his tube last week after a particularly nasty exchange over the ownership of some week-old Walkers Sensations. Annelies deals in breathy vocalising and folky songwriting over minimal, delicate instrumentation which kind of makes me think of PJ Harvey's White Chalk, stripped right down to the barest possible elements, but Phil reckons Empress are a good comparison too. She's backed predominantly by piano and despite the vastly different sounds and techniques on show, I think there's something of the atmospheric quality of Grouper here, except it makes me think more of mournful ghosts singing lamentations to lost loved ones around still, misty lakes. Pretty wonderful, I'd say.

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"Marit” is Annelies’ second full length. Annelies started recording the album in Hilversum, the Netherlands and continued the process, after moving there, in Gent, Belgium. For the first time, Annelies invited friends to play and sing. Jessica Bailiff, Nathan Amundsen (rivulets), Michael Anderson (dREKKA), Ellen Evers (Puddle parade) and the Vollmar-brothers make guest-appearances.

They introduced sounds and instruments new to Annelies’ oeuvre like the violin-uke, stairwell – reverb, electric guitar drones and even drums. All musicians added their very own interpretations of proposed arrangements to the songs, without throwing overboard Annelies’ recognizable sense for simple, yet poignant melodies and stark sounds. This gives the album a significantly warmer sound and a less solitary feel than her previous material. It’s a diverse collection of songs ranging from a folky tale like “will you be found?” to more the droney “common ground” and the miniature piano song “can’t”. The album is a strong coherent whole, the beginning nicely tied up with the end. Lyrically, these songs are stories about leaving home & building new homes, hidden thoughts & tales, love & intimacy.Recommended if you like: Nico, Movietone, Richard Youngs, Folk, Shoegaze, drones and/or minimal songwriting.

Tracks 1. we left home 2. common ground 3. september 4. I will lock you 5. coda 6. Have you heard? 7. 7 8. I might never see 9. will you be found? 10. can't 11. like yesterday 12. this is home

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