Boxharp
The Green
Hidden Shoal Recordings

Just a few months ago, the American ambient experimental pop duo Boxharp (Wendy Allen and Scott Scolter) released the stunning Loam Arcane EP. And this June they are releasing their first full length album; The Green. Last month I reviewed the first single from the album, the title track, "The Green", and told it was promising. And Boxharp sure know how to keep a promise. The album format becomes them well.

Boxharp further evolves their cold, sparkling ambient soundscape on "The Green". It is chilled, airy, dream pop, clothed in contemporary synth as well as the old gramophone noise or birdsongs. And, of course, it is the still angelic voice of Wendy Allen, that gives the tunes an almost prosaic otherworldly beauty.

The Green has an outmost modern feeling. Still, or maybe, therefore, even with their synth-pop mood songs like "Hick's Farewell" and "Leatherwing Bath", this gives the feel of the timeless Celtic folk-songs. As the trip-hop like "Cloy", which also is my personal favourite on the album, has the touch of a beautiful romance in a 19th century novel. Soberly, moving between sense and sensibility.

It is this dualism, between the waste emotions and the logic, the ancient and the future, the technology and the organic sounds, that makes Boxharp, and The Green such an interesting listen. This, and the undisputed fact that Boxharp make adoringly delightful pop music.

Copyright © 2010 Aslaug O Klausen