Larsen - Seies - Important

On last year’s Play, this Italian avant-rock quartet sought inspiration from the melodies of abstract beat mavericks Autechre, of all people. Seies, with its palindrome title, may be less conceptually ambitious than Play, yet it still carries on the gorgeously meditative textures of its predecessor.

Like sonic peers, Town and Country and Rachel’s, Larsen’s chamber-like compositions are drone-based, drawing from classical, pop, folk, post-rock, and world-music idioms. The key to Larsen’s approach is its use of simple, graceful melodies and incremental layering that keeps the pieces from becoming too ponderous or heavy-handed, even when the mood turns sombre as on opener “The Snow.” Driven by the shruti box (an Indian percussion instrument), assorted hand percussion and wallowing accordion and strings, this Dead Can Dance-like funeral march feels exactly like a trudge along a frigid winter path.

Eliminate the rock backbeat from the swelling strings, accordion, and blurred vocals on “Mother,” and you have an exquisite pastoral folk lament. Keep it in, and you’re in post-rock territory. The track also provides a perfect segue to the drum-less ballad “Rever,” the most dramatic piece on the disc. Aided by guest vocalist Jarboe, it’s Larsen at its full orchestration best. “Momi” follows in the same vein, building from swirling, plangent guitar, glockenspiel, and accordion figures to a explosive cascade of sweet bliss dominated by soaring female vocals that would make Van Dyke Parks proud.

The 12-minute “Marzia” is what you might expect from a collaboration between these multi-instrumentalists and dark ambient master Lustmord. Brooding and soupy, the track first bears all the hallmarks of Lustmord’s cavernous ambience, only to be carried home by a strident beat and gothic guitar. It reveals a cold menace that puts to rest the notion that Larsen are merely sun-dappled pastoralists.

Richard Moule