Throws

The last time Tunng co-founders Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay worked together was on 2007’s Good Arrows, the folktronica outfit’s third album. Since then, Tunng have continued without Genders to produce two more full-lengths, paring down the eccentricities of their early output in favour of a more traditional songwriting approach.

Throws sees Genders and Lindsay back together with a new project and an eponymous debut, capturing the cathartic reunion of two former bandmates at it once again. Recorded in Lindsay’s studio in Reykjavík, the album draws inspiration not only from a rekindled musical connection, but also from the surrounding environment. “It’s just in the air,” says Genders, alluding to Iceland’s reputation for providing a certain kind of spiritual stimulation in the creative process.

The music itself is at times reminiscent of Tunng, the rustic and restrained folk of ‘Silence in Between’ and ‘Sun Gun’ offset by the use of synths and other percussive glitches, especially on the super wonky ‘Knife’. Time apart has also broadened the artistic capabilities of at least one half of Throws. Genders’s usually hushed and reserved vocal delivery is given new life on the album. ‘Learn Something’ and ‘High Pressure Front’ see a liberated falsetto take centre stage, especially on the latter’s northern soul-influenced second half, worlds apart from Tunng’s back catalogue. Additional musicians are plucked from Iceland’s musical community, including string quartet and frequent Sigur Rós collaborators Amiina and múm vocalist Sigurlaug Gísladóttir.

While Throws isn’t a game-changer, it is the sound of two people rediscovering their shared musical mojo and having a laugh in the process.

Aidan Daly