Leila - Blood, Looms, And Blooms (Album)
Has anyone else noticed that circus music is creeping into the mainstream?
Once the bastion of big tops, gypsy camps and accordionists, it is now everywhere. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Gotye started it, well, at least in Australia. To quote Pauline Hanson, ‘I don’t like it’. It is that type of music that is based around one note and small deviations from it by a semi-tone or two… and that’s it! The main melody line, be it sung or played, never hits the right note, it is always just a little off. I like to call it Romany rock- music for gypsies and circus folk.
Leila’s new record, Blood Looms and Blooms, her follow-up to 2000's Courtesy of Choice is a prime example. Filled with incongruous samples, ill-fitting beats, poorly written string movements, and amelodic vocals, probably three quarters of the album is unremarkable Romany rock. The samples used are not blended together or complementary so the tracks are crowded and cacophonic. The other quarter of the album is composed of decent downbeat trip-hop, and an unforgivable cover of Norwegian Wood. As I say, the trip-hop moments are decent, but why would you buy this album for this when you can get a couple of seminal Portishead or Massive Attack records, minus the circus soundtrack?
Is this the future of music? Artists drawing together ill-fitting samples to create flimsy pieces of whimsy. Let’s hope not.
