- Marina Herlop's fourth album is packed with crescendos and moments of effervescent genius.
- Marina Herlop's distinctive style of phonetic art pop and Carnatic lyricism often transcends language. Similar in that way to lauded vocalists like Elizabeth Fraser or Kate Bush, she writes ethereal songs made up of alluring words and abstract phrases in her native Catalan. Her work is hard to decipher, with vocalisations that feel otherworldly among delicate percussion lines and a seemingly endless array of left-turns collecting into a dazzling, sometimes abstract whole.
Where last year's Pripyat was a "poetic reflection on life and loss," according to our RA-Recommends review, Nekkuja is more grounded. Inspired by Herlop's garden, it embodies a locus that nurtures sound and brings order to the chaos within her experimental style of music. Big, orchestral-style piano and harp melodies unfold and dazzle on "Cosset," while Herlop croons divinely about holding a piece of light while flowers laugh at her and worms swell in the earth. The track is dramatic, upbeat and symphonic in its delivery, while whirling string and key melodies rise and fall in volume levels like tides in the ocean of Herlop's ideas.
Herlop's vocals have sometimes felt sacred, while here they're manipulated with reverb on tracks like "Reina Mora'," a swooping piece of music that encapsulates the feeling of adolescence and child-like awe. "La Alhambra'" is a meandering story of Andalucia's famous historical treasure, usually visited and celebrated by humans and their worldly affairs. Herlop's perspective focuses on the fortress's surroundings. Dramatic drums and bass guitar set the pace, her vocals rise and rise until they hit a crescendo with the chorus, "These giant trees / Burn our eyes / They are fed up / With so many humans."
"Karada" is a divine soundscape, a much slower tune that takes cues from Japanese ambient music. Birdsong and organic water sounds wash over the gentle, intricate plucking of a harp and soft somnambulant keys. Elsewhere, ornate chords and celestial vocals are juxtaposed with intense computer music. The opener "Busa" offers a crack for Herlop's ideas to break through the earth and begin to flourish—nature resuming its course.
Nekkuja is a shimmering rainforest of bright ideas. The production is more pronounced and destined for a bigger stage, her most striking and compelling body of work yet is achieved through combinations of tempered vocals, uplifting electronics and deep organ whooshes. All of these elements gradually come together in euphoria on the closer "Babel," which is named after an ancient term for a confusion of voices and a very subtle climax. Herlop does a sterling job at sounding both ancient and contemporary at the same time.
Tracklist01. Busa
02. Cosset
03. Karada
04. La Alhambra
05. Reina Mora
06. Interlude
07. Babel