Orphan Fairytale - Tune In Tree Ears

Released last October amidst all that early(-ish) doors Covid hell, this latest Orphan Fairytale long-player managed to pass under our radar and is now only coming to our attention because of our developing infatuation with the KRAAK label who released it. Something like the thirtieth(++) release by Eva Van Deuren under that moniker and a veteran of numerous European outposts (Ultra Eczema, Aguirre, Release the Bats), it's clear if nothing else that there's a lot to catch up on. As presaged by the cover, Tune in the Ear's five tracks are based around Van Deuren's relatively recent adoption of the harp and were first developed at open air concerts in 2019. Pretty and delicate as they often are - and it's hard not to be with an instrument as subtle as the harp - there's also an eerie psychedelic quality to these mostly lengthly compositions, which revolve around repeated phrases and layers, and are coloured with indeterminable ghostly background ambience. The result affects a kind of music box spookiness, in that kind of White Ribbon-y, Brannten Schnurre way, and channelling that eternal weltschmerz we know and crave. Which is to say, more haunted, time-dilating lullabies from the mysterious European past, present and future.