Hydromedusae - s/t

Kranky alumni Jessica Bailiff returns after a decade away from music for this first time collaboration with kindred spirit, Annelies Monseré. Their union makes a lot of sense, Bailiff's long-standing interest in drone and minimalist composition an ideal foil for Monseré's instinctively avant interpretation of folk song and melody. Like on the recently released Mares on Horn of Plenty, Monseré's voice holds a particularly central place in the music, the guiding thread that holds the whole thing together, deeply intoned, repeat phrased melodies embellished by drones of organs and bass, and the occasional sprawl of guitar feedback. This is serious, heavy music you feel in your chest, alluding to something grand and significant, though ambiguous enough to offer no real solid clues as to just what that might be. No matter, best to sit back and let it transport you somewhere else, quite possibly some distant fog enshrouded land in the backwaters of a lost Europe.