May 8, 2008

New Lau Nau - "Lue Kartalta"

Finnish songwriter Laura Naukkarinen, aka Lau Nau, created some of the most otherwordly, mesmerizing bits of abstracted avant-folk on her 2005 full-length debut Kuutarha. If you're playing catch-up, we suggest hopping over to her MySpace and listening to "Kuula" or tracking down some of her work in the trio Hertta Lussu Ässä with other faves Islaja and Kuupuu.

Lau Nau's sophomore offering, Nukkuu, Finnish for "Sleeps," has a familiar, but different feel -- it's more intimate, and at the same time, she's operating with a lusher palette, as if she recorded the nine tracks in a greater silence, making her midnight rumbles all the louder. We're told, the album was "conceived in tight attics & vacant dens on off hours when her young son Nuutti was fast asleep," and we're guessing young Nuutti slept well. Opener "Lue Kartalta" starts with a tone, some silence, the chiming of bells, and then we slide into Lau Nau's lopsided lullabies and bedroom psychedelics.

Lau Nau - "Lue Kartalta" (MP3)

It's always difficult to figure out exactly what she's plucking or tapping. With the video for the album's second track "Painovoimaa, Valoa," shot by Fonal record head and Es member Sami Sänpäkkilä, there's a whole new array of bowed sounds and strings.