There is an atmosphere of particularly chilly austerity on the debutalbum of Mi and L'au. It's not entirely unexpected from an albumproduced by Michael Gira, but it is somewhat unexpected afterlearning that Mi and L'au are friends of fellow Young God folkieDevendra Banhart, and that their album contains contributions fromAkron/Family and Julia Kent. Where Devendra's latest album Cripple Crowreveled in its own expensive, high-tech studio sheen, and containedsome of Banhart's most celebratory and rollicking group compositions, Mi and L'au sounds a lot closer to something that belongs on Young God records: quietly dramatic, somber chamber folk.
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Mi and L'au is a male/female duo existing on the imaginary border oftwo musical phenomena. Mi is from Finland, and consequently the musicpicks up a bit of that Fonal Records Finnish underground psychedeliavibe, where compositions remain loose and kaleidescopic, organic butscattershot, with a frosty nip to remind you of the hostile tundra ofMi's homeland. L'au is from Paris, and an old friend of DevendraBanhart, who wrote his song "Gentle Soul" (from Oh Me Oh My...)for L'au, as a thanks for letting him crash at his place. Perhapsbecause of this connection, Mi and L'au also tune in to the current waveof American "freak folk," singing in English about things like falseteeth and worms, and incorporating an ever-so-subtle atmosphere ofAppalachian Americana. I'm making this album sound as if it is somesort of confused postmodern hybrid, but it's not really, and the musicand songs flow quite naturally, if always somewhat restrained.
It's this restraint that characterizes the music on this pair'sdebut album, always an emotion repressed, a sadness not quitearticulated. The press notes mention Nico, which is a good comparison.Not that Mi's soft, caressing voice really resembles Nico's chillymonotone, but both singers share an emotional nakedness that betrays aweighty, unspoken emotional history. Lyrics are simple throughout,often just simple observations of everyday life that take on a specialsignificance with repetition against the backdrop of Mi and L'au'sskeletal melodies and haunting compositional touches—a gorgeous swellof romantic strings here, a sprinkling of winter bells there, a lightlyplucked banjo, the rhythm of a foot stomping a wood floor.
The production is crystalline and spectral, and is perhaps the mostimpressive thing about the album, with Gira highlighting every creak,quaver and scrape, opening out the mix to reveal hidden undercurrentsof haunted psychedelia and shimmering drones. A track such as "Bums"feels like one sort of thing—a melodic vocal duet, gently pickedguitar and flute—until halfway through, when a rip in the gossamerfabric unleashes a seething undercurrent of swirling, ominousatmospherics that bounce off the dark forest canopy, creating fearfulshadows. At these moments, the duo is most reminiscent of early 90sBritish esoteric psych-folk, shades of Current 93 or Sol Invictus. Thenthere is a track such as "A Word In Your Belly," which achieves all ofthe melancholic, symphonic grandeur of Agaetis Bryjun-era Sigur Ros. (No, really! Listen to the samples below.) Mi and L'auis a lovely and haunting debut album, and another impressive additionto Young God's mostly unblemished track record of uncovering great newtalent.
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