Hearts on Hold - Tu Fawning

Hearts on Hold
Tu Fawning
7/10

A dusk-lit waltz through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, as imagined by Tim Burton. Tu Fawning’s debut Hearts On Hold answers a question I’ve been pining over for some time: What would happen if the pseudo-ethnic forest dweller vibe of Florence and The Machine was given to someone that wouldn’t shit all over it, then shove it down my throat every waking hour of the day? (...Just me?)

Here, the Portland quartet – brainchild of vocalist Corrina Repp and guitarist Joe Haege (of the erratic 31Knots) – give us their own take on the nymph-noir, to far better results; a land where Portishead meets Sleigh Bells, and a lumbering drumbeat leads the way. In their own words, a sound as if ‘a giant is walking through a valley’, ‘a piano is stabbed in a 1920s basement’, ‘drums are beaten on a mountaintop’ or ‘that you’re singing in a cave’. I couldn’t have put it better myself.

The death knell opening notes of ‘Multiply A House’ is a perfect ease in; an unsettling marching number, coupled with the chanting of what seems a particularly unsettling clan of possessed women. Alongside the rolling tribal drums of ‘Felt Sense’, with its ethereal Zola Jesus-esque vocals and percussive backing, there is definitely some sort of homely, campfire feel here – even if it’s a bit glum and overcast.

Luckily, this doesn’t last – though the pessimism is pretty unrelenting. ‘Apples and Oranges’, is the albums strongest lyrical outing, dabbling with the deeply cynical, the glass half empty, a tale needing to be told – and it is Joe and Corrina who deserve to be telling it, vocals shared over gentle piano and shrieks of shrink-wrapped violins. (‘Apples and Oranges, what’s the difference, they’re both just going to rot...’). Sadly, the ethereality really starts to bore, becoming painfully overbearing – almost a waste of such striking lyrics.

Following the thankful return of pace and drumbeats in ‘Just Too Much’, we’re quickly swept into Portishead territory, with ‘Diamonds in the Forest’ and lead single ‘I Know You Know’. Eerie soundscapes with off-set rhythm, detached vocal delivery with a demonic edge – it’s all here. The uneasiness is rarely tiring, rather endearing and theatrical, with a touch a 1920’s noir mixed in.

On whole, a strong debut effort – patchy, but lying low and open among foothills of grandeur. Mountains will rise, and Tu Fawning will hopefully rise to brighter and more pronounced heights.

And I bloody hope so, because I’m all out of dark words to describe them.