The Family Elan - Bow Low Bright Glow

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4...according to our Phil on Thu 28 Jan, 2010.

The Family Elan release a new album out this week courtesy of those nice folks at Alt Vinyl. If the name doesn't ring a bell then let me enlighten you... They had an album out previously on the rather ace Locust label and the band consists of Chris Hladowski (has played with Hawk & A Hacksaw, Nalle, Ashtray Navigations. Daniel Padden and probably more I'm too tired to list) and Hanna Tuulikki who is otherwise known as Nalle (albums on Picked Egg & Locust!). With her voice and his knowledge of eastern European folk instruments they make a vintage folk cacophony which would please anyone with two ears and a brain. I never heard the debut but on the strength of this one I'd say it's worth checking out as well. There's a very medieval folk feel to this with the flute and bouzouki being ever present. Mind you the tablas on track 5 (I can't read the writing on the back... bloody medieval folk writing) add another dimension to it. 'Bow Low Bright Glow' is good. I like it. I think you will too if you're into traditional Eastern European folk. The vinyl is packaged in a great shiny lino sleeve which you can't help but rub until your finger prints are no more. An excellent listen from start to end!!

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Fusion is a dirty word, implying clinicism and a dry sense of
conscious matchmaking. “Bow Low Bright Glow” is a more a communal
excavation and re-presentation of buried European folk and
sufi-hearted music than any form of experiment. Family Elan are alone
in their field. Here, Chris Hladowski has put together a collection of original numbers, visions created from lost/found tapes and traditional pieces (including a absolutely gorgeous “The BlackPlanets Of Her Eyes”) that are a fitting companion to Family Elan’s “Stare of Dawn” debut.

Alongside Hladowski’s voice, there’s the vocal input of Nalle’s Hanna Tuulikki – a voice as easily capable of gentle Qawwali as it is folk song. This is a record of heavy treble intricacy, Hladowski’s saz and bouzouki playing encompassing drones, folk, dervish progressive work and a woozy shimmer over and through
the entwining melodies. Family Elan are more than just a project or a
band, Hladowski has endowed the music here with a such a unique voice
that shaky shorthand comparisons would be pointless and a short sell.
Music that hints at the devotional rarely feels as inclusive, as
communal and as enjoyable as this.

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