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Anathallo
Floating World
Easiest way to describe Illinois-based collective Anathallo is as a less-jokey Sufjan Stevens, just instead of midwestern iconography and the New Testament, Anathallo uses Japanese folklore as its theme. Apparently, Floating World tells a japanese fairy tale complete with poems over its 14 tracks, but it'll take me a few more runs through with or without lyric sheets to extract the actual storyline. In the meantime, the music only gets more interesting with each repeat. All sorts of instruments are tossed in, from bells to flugelhorns, but they're not afraid to step back and let it all melt into claps and footstomps and whispers. The album captures that sense of playful mystery and wonder that make folk tales worth repeating.
Recommended tracks: "By Number"; "Hoodwink", which starts with an Adolph Eichman quote; "Hanasakajijii Four: A Great Wind, More Ash", the most Sufjan of the bunch; "Hanasakajijii Three: The Man Who Made Dead Trees Bloom"
Listen:
YouSendIt - Hanasakajijii 3: The Man Who Made Dead Trees Bloom
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