U.K. collective’s third album continues (with diminishing returns) to wed folk and electronica
Tunng was originally a project between British producer Mike Lindsay and singer/songwriter Sam Genders. As their debut, Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs, found an audience, Lindsay and Genders formed a live entity that was seven-strong by the time of the second Tunng album, 2006’s Comments of the Inner Chorus. Now scaled back to a sextet, the group has released its Thrill Jockey debut, Good Arrows, on which Tunng continues whittling down its melding of British Isle folk traditions (see Robert Wyatt, Incredible String Band) into British Isle electronica (Four Tet, Beta Band, Boards of Canada). Strands of the former ?oat through “String” and “Hands,” while the children’s chorus on “Arms” suggests the Wicker Man soundtrack. Too often though, the digitized productions act as ?ller, sounding forced. Take “Soup,” where a glockenspiel spirals around a crackling children’s record and nimble guitar ?gure before Tunng makes an unfortunate attempt to both rock and glitch out.