Kieli: Tick Tick Talk
Schole

If this five-song EP by Swedish/Finnish singer and multi-instrumentalist Elin Pöllänen (aka Kieli) feels intimate, it might have something to do with the recording circumstances. She laid down the tracks last year at her family home in Åvasta, at times in the early morning hours and using wooden floors and sticks as sound supplements to conventional instrumentation. It's the material itself, however, that most accounts for that impression, with the twenty-minute recording capturing Pöllänen distilling thoughts and feelings about herself and society into five pieces, one an instrumental. Rooted in Nordic and Finno-Ugric folk music, Tick Tick Talk reflects all the anxiety and excitement one would expect from a young woman finding her place in the world and determined to make a positive difference in it.

It's largely a solo production, Pöllänen credited with vocals, violin, piano, guitar, glockenspiel, harmonium, and drums, though Mathias Zachrisson also contributes back-up vocals, guitar, sitar, mandolin, percussion, and drums to the material. Stylistically, the music might be described as melodic folk-pop of the confessional kind, with Pöllänen musing about identity, authenticity, and being present.

After strings and harmonium wheeze introduce “The Time,” the ache of Pöllänen's bright voice appears to move the song through its step-wise build. With each verse, the music grows in volume and instrumental density; the solo voice expands via multi-tracking, Kieli ostensibly transformed into a mini-choir in the process and the music exuding Sigur Rós-styled drama as it reaches the climax. In making an urgent plea on behalf of nature's replenishing power, Kieli stakes her place within the folk tradition with “Skin and fur,” acoustic guitar and piano accompanying her singing in the opening verse until the arrangement blossoms with strings, mandolin, and drums for the anthemic chorus (“There's a beautiful world, out there / There's a beautiful world, out there”) that follows.

“Tromsø” offers a three-minute respite from the lyrics-focused material and also shows Pöllänen's capable of crafting an engaging atmospheric instrumental. “Here, gone,” on the other hand, morphs from a meditation on self-questioning into a pumping club track in less than five minutes. If there's a single here, it's the title track, which quickly engages with strong melodic content (“Click click click / tick tick talk”) and material you could easily imagine Björk singing.

No commentary on the release would be complete without mentioning Schole's deluxe presentation. As so many artists have before her, Pöllänen benefits mightily from the care with which her music is presented, the label even going so far as to wrap the gatefold package with the kind of dust cover used for hardcover books. Colour photographs of Pöllänen at the piano and strolling through nature settings bolster the impression of intimacy conveyed by the music.

September 2019