Good Arrows

• CD/LP: Full Time Hobby [UK]

• The Guardian ("Album Of The Week"), August 2007:

Tunng have finally hit their stride...melodies that get under your skin. 4/5

• NME, August 2007:

Unadulterated genius - we're practically drooling. 8/10

• Uncut, August 2007:

Good Arrows is a kind of cryptic glitch-folk concept record about modern anomie, featuring people put together from 'blood and bones and bits of string'. 4/5

• The Independent, August 2007:

This trippy stuff seeps under your skin. 4/5

• Drowned In Sound, August 2007 (8/10)

• The Daily Telegraph, August 2007:

Pitting finger-picking acoustic guitars against gentle synthesised beats, East London's Tunng present an aural collision of past and present, which has often been labelled "folktronica".

Actually listening to the band's records is a lot more pleasurable than that singularly unappetising epithet might suggest. This, their third album, ticks the same boxes as its predecessors - non-harmonising, multi-tracked vocals; surreal lyrics; bizarre samples (at one point, a crackling fire provides the rhythm track) - but, this time, the core duo of Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay have added a little extra something: pop tunes.

Good Arrows would be the perfect soundtrack for a lazy post-millennial afternoon in the sunshine. Chance'd be a fine thing.

Andrew Perry

• Mojo magazine, August 2007:

Despite their digital genesis, Tunng's previous two albums eased into the affections of the neo-folk fraternity thanks to founders Mike Lindsay and Sam Genders' facility for plucking and strumming. Now a sextet, they make merry with arcane dulcimers and steel-strung harps, yet Good Arrows is principally an accessible modern pop record. Opener 'Take' pitches massed vocals against flickering beats and handclaps, like The Watersons getting it on with The Beta Band, while 'Bricks' arrives in a flurry of slide guitar and electronic scree before finding a jaunty Moog and acoustic guitar chug to support a sing-song melody and opaque lyrics that conflate fairytale allusion and the titular building blocks. An album that values discreet whimsy over Wicker Man portent, it succeeds on its own puckish terms.

David Sheppard (4 stars)

• Birmingham Post, August 2006

After the rampant experimentalism on Tunng's previous efforts, it's not a huge surprise that this third album from the six-piece is a distinct progression again, but a strange and dark one too - after all, it is Tunng. 'Good Arrows' remains as expansive as their finest moments, but comes gift-wrapped with an unabashed melodic sheen, in a way leaving behind the digital folk of old in favour of what they call "pastoral pop".

From the massed vocals of opener 'Take' to the gonzo metal solo on 'Soup', the newer ingredients in Tunng's arsenal show them to be constant boundary pushers, yet they turn these flourishes into hugely listenable songs that could easily find their way onto radio playlists and into the hearts of festival-goers in the forthcoming year.

'Secrets' is entirely different to anything they've done previously, being roughly akin to a haiku in its vocal rhythm. But perhaps the stand-out track is 'Bullets', a stomping oompah jaunt which is surely the weirdest pop song you'll hear this year. A forthcoming single and already a set-closer at their live shows, it seems a dead cert that this is the song to send them crawling bleary-eyed into the mainstream.

'Good Arrows' still inhabits the darker corners of the psyche, but is a more complete effort as a band - with the songs not just coming from main duo Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay - and as such it feels like even more of a reward. It's a heart-warming triumph and their best offering yet.

Simon Harper (5 stars)

• Norman Records, August 2007:

Alright. A new Tunng album. Always a special thing I'm sure you'll agree. From the off they've been one of those bands that have that 'certain something'. So how do they cope with the difficult third album? Tears For Fears blew it with The Seeds Of Love. Will Tunng fair better?? I'm happy to announce they do. Good Arrows is a total feast of loveliness from start to end. The sound is much fuller now they've expanded to 6 members yet it still sounds sparse. I talk in riddles I do. It's all very folk still but what did you expect?? A tunng 'metal' album?? The lyrics are deliciously dark (at times) yet the music sounds absolutely gorgeous. I've always liked that contrast. 'Hands' is a perfect example of the light and dark thing they do blindingly well. There's some delicate sounds and electronics tinkering around the in the background but what you really notice is the vocals. The vocals are really full sounding and they burst through the receptacles of your brain like teeth biting through jelly. The tunes are excellent.... the Tunng knack of writing a melody is ever present and when the album is finished you're left with a nice warm feeling which makes you want to bang it on again. I love this record.

• Gigwise, 4th July 2007 (4.5 stars)

Bricks

• 7" (heavyweight vinyl): Full Time Hobby [FTH041S]

• is this music?, August 2007:

There’s something very comforting about hearing the massed voices of Tunng. ‘Bricks’ is the first single from the forthcoming ‘Good Arrows’ album and it débuts the first proper ‘full band’ Tunng release (previous records having been mainly put together by the core duo of Mike and Sam). Absorbing more electronica than on the previous releases, despite now being a sextet, Tunng are one of those hidden treasure bands, loved by those in the know and ignored by the general public. ‘Bricks’ isn’t the single to propel them up the charts (’Bullets’ would have been a better bet) but it’s a great single and a fine advertisement for the album to follow.

Alex Botten

• Boomkat, August 2007:

These mixes are really rather wonderful, an excellent taster for Tunng's long awaited new album which is due to drop in the coming weeks. DNTEL open proceedings with looped textures bringing back memories of Tamborello's first full length album and that utterly gorgeous Tunng song-structure. There's a sense that this remix only hints at the beauty of the original, but gives us a little more in the way of electronic gratification. On the flipside we're treated to an abstract jumble of lo-slung sounds from Cali-based operator Daedelus who shows he can mash up the original track until it sounds like pots and pans falling down some stairs, with a beat.

It's Because...We've Got Hair

• 7" (heavyweight vinyl): Full Time Hobby [FTH030S]

• Norman Records, November 2006:

The track sounds to me almost like a pagan prayer. The rhythms are fairly simple with odd sounds creeping into the mix and shuffling metallic percussion. The acoustic guitar melody is consistent throughout the track and moves it along nicely. I particularly like the way the male and female vocals are singing in unison but the female vocal is lower in the mix giving the effect of an echo on the male vocal. As with all the stuff I've heard by these there is a mystical feel and a post 60's acid vibe. The team here all love this band and up until now I must admit I haven't been fully seduced by their charms, this could all change...

• Boomkat, November 2006:

Tunng again then - this time on beautifully heavyweight vinyl! 'It's because. we've got hair' was actually on their recent album and we like it very much, it sounds a little like a kids television song, I'm thinking Rod, Jane and Freddy here - don't pretend you don't know what I mean. It's just got that naivety and sunny idealism that can't help but make you smile. Before long I'm gonna be running down the streets of Manchester singing about the things I see - open use of class A drugs, muggings, ram-raiding. okay maybe not. On the flip side things get a bit seasonal with Melodic's Department of Eagles taking control of the track and making it sound like the Christmas hit that never was. There's even some sleigh bells in there somewhere, just listen closely. I can feel it already, Santa is coming. I'm in a good mood now, thanks Tunng....

Comments Of The Inner Chorus

• CD/LP: Full Time Hobby [FTH019]

• Birmingham Post, 26th June 2006

With their strikingly fresh take on folk music, Tunng's debut album - Mother's Daughter and Other Songs - was a masterpiece, updating the genre with a pronounced digital edge. This follow-up turns its back on some of the things that made them so good in the first place, but adds a whole selection of new ingredients which are guaranteed to put willing ears under their spell.

Tunng's second full-length outing is expansive and expressive, and their ideas and execution leave them head and shoulders above their nu folk contemporaries. An intoxicating listen, and one of the records of the year.

Simon Harper (4 stars)

• Tsunami Magazine, June 2006

Those of you with exceptional memories may recall me doing quite a bit of ranting and raving about the last Tunng album, and with that in mind, I was quite pleased to receive a copy of their latest release. The best thing is that this one is even better! The production is just as colourful as the last time and has now gained elements of psychedelia by way of cut-and-paste IDM styled electronic manipulation that makes an even greater influence upon the sound this time. The first Tunng album effectively laid down the standards that all such glitch-folk releases would be measured against, and this one raises the bar further again.

Greg Reason (9/10)

• Pitchfork, 15th June 2006 (7.0)

• The Observer, 21st May 2006 (4 stars)

• The Times, 20th May 2006 (3 stars)

• The Independent, 19th May 2006

The half-breed form known as "folktronica" is a sort of musical cyborg that many have unsuccessfully tried to master, from Momus - who invented the term - to more recent exponents on the fringes of the nu-folk movement.

The best of these is surely Tunng, who here have balanced the bricolage of glitchy clicks, electronic tones, typewriter taps and sampled sounds with a phantasmagorical, fairy-tale songwriting approach that accentuates the music's folksy roots.

In "Woodcat", a girl is magically turned into a hare for breaking some unwritten local law, and her boyfriend seeks the same transformation so he can be reunited with her. "The Wind-Up Bird" becomes a girl's "new muse/ it made front-page news", the song's pizzicato backdrop adding an eccentric texture to the bed of guitar and strings. A theme of fictive fantasy and metamorphosis seems to link the songs, the allure of storytelling underlined by the typewriter clicking away behind "Jenny Again" and the sampled fragments of childrens' hour telly laid over the fingerstyle guitar of "Stories". It's like Jackanory read by The Incredible String Band. Are you sitting comfortably?

Andy Gill (4 stars)

• Time Out, 15th May 2006

If King Creosote is the amiable godfather of twisted folk and José González the clean-cut older brother, then Tunng are the messy and artful younger sibling. Tinkering with technology and inspired by ‘The Wicker Man’ and Pentangle, they write fragile, groovesome and sun-kissed songs about girls turning into hares. This one’s better than last year’s debut, with a focus on the song: the movie samples, glitches and clattering percussion (teeth and toenails!) providing finishing touches rather than a distraction.

Chris Parkin (4 stars)

• Norman Records, May 2006:

What is it about Tunng? Why are they soooo good? They have the magic that's why. Precious few bands achieve what they do. Simple, beautiful & lovingly layered songs that take you to another place. A land carpeted with woodland creatures, the finest wine, the prettiest girls, all imbued with a quietly sinister spirit, no malevolence, probably just mischief & a glinty eyed love of life. Majestic hazy melodies, perfect sunshine folk, charming samples, spine tingling effects, fascinating organic percussion (seashells, chimes, walrus fangs, dried eye of newt etc). These people are the Boards Of Canada of folk. A customer in love with the debut, 'Mothers daughter..' enquired whether we thought this newie 'Comments On The Inner Chorus' is as great. Well, it probably will be when we've heard it a few dozen times. It's a hard one to better, Bruce. There's a reprise halfway of a track from the debut called 'Jenny again' & it fits so snugly in there that I can confidently say this will stand up head & shoulders with it's predecessor with confidence. Future folk for the special people. Leave yr boring Adem records at home & embrace the lay of the land, my son.

• Rock Sound magazine, June 2006:

Emerging from the woodwork of Britain's nu-folk scene (but with an enviable freshness of vision), this quietly eccentric septet steer clear of the limitations of genres and combine everything from electronica and folk to pop and even a modicum of the Gong-esque prog. Minimalist sample noodlings reminiscent of Aphex Twin collide with the homely melodics of Belle & Sebastian, resulting in an album that is as genius as it is queer. The vocal choppings of 'Woodcat' are masterful, while the flamenco-house-meets-Number-9 effort 'Stories' is compulsive listening. The lead vocals may be a rung below the noisy exuberance of the beats and guitars on the excitement ladder, but Tunng have certainly got something to be proud of.

Amy McGill (8/10)

• Uncut magazine, June 2006:

Nu-folk might seem oxymoronic to some, but Mike Lindsay and his accomplice Sam Genders manage to refresh the genre with their subtle productions and darkly bucolic undercurrents. Referencing the hallucinogenic whimsy of 70s kids TV isn't new sampling ground, of course, so it's helpful that the likes of 'Woodcat' have an echo of Pentangle as well. A more considered album than last year's debut, defined by Lindsay's elegantly strange frameworks and Genders' notably improved singing.

Max Bell (4 stars)

• BBC Collective, May 2006 (4 stars)

• The Fly magazine, May 2006:

Of all the damnable sub-genres that have been created to describe music, surely 'folktronica' is the most infuriating, as it enables your average winsome schmindie kid to claim some sort of techno epiphany simply by banging some vaguely digital sound over their accursed warbling. Thankfully, the excellent Tunng - championed by David Holmes, Gilles Peterson and Andy Votel - are more John Martyn with an IMac than the above shower; with beauty, stealth and intrigue to spare. Just don't ever label them 'folktronica' or we'll unleash the hounds, okay?

(4 stars)

• Boomkat, May 2006:

Tunng's second full length ('Comments On The Inner Chorus') opens with the kind of mealy instrumentation and fizzing electronics that suggest leaden skies and fog-shrouded ramparts - a situation merely heightened with the distant cry of "break in the Sun, till the Sun breaks down". If it wasn't such a hoary cliché, this is where we'd pull out our Wickerman reference... Very much at the crossroads where the more traditional aspects of British folk and the new-guard of -tronica suffixed troubadours collide, Tunng have seen their idiosyncratic breed of honeyed-acoustica attract attention from the broadsheet/BBC4 cabal, as well as appealing to scene fanaticists and those who've stumbled in via Jose Gonzalez and his bouncy-balls. Now signed to Full Time Hobby, Tunng really do coax the very best of their well-worn palete - luxuriating in a sound that references the likes of Nick Drake, Jose Gonzalez, The Notwist, and any number of talented folk-founded types, yet never descend into the more twee regions that can often blight this genre. Unreasonably accessible throughout, 'Comments...' follows on from the opening electro-folk of 'Hanged' with previous single 'Woodcat'; wherein the Tunng duo of Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay unreel a fleeing glimpse of a song that builds incrementally throughout with heartfelt melodies (which wouldn't look out of place on a Simon & Garfunkel record) and a sense of joyful loss ("I miss having coffee watching TV") that is poignant rather than mawkish. Closing with a stuttering patch of silicon-sliced production that keeps it firmly in the 21st Century, 'Woodcat' acts as a a camera obscura for the rest of the LP - with 'The Wind Up Bird' undercoating its fragile shell with a brace of violins and mandarins, 'Stories' coming across like 'Pause'-era Four Tet, whilst 'Jenny Again' (borrowing a melody from The Sundays) is likely what Elliot Smith would have sounded like were he from Blighty. Elsewhere, 'Sweet William' matches waterlogged timber with filigree electronics, 'It's Because We've Got Hair' is a beautiful slice of boy/girl folk-pop, whilst the throbbing bass, cold-water synths and chittering beats of album closer 'Engine Room' could happily grace a Daedelus release. Tunngtastic!

Woodcat

• 7" (heavyweight vinyl): Full Time Hobby [FTH020S]

• Norman Records, April 2006:

Those electroni-folksters Tunng are back on a new label (which be Full Time Hobby) and a brand new limited 7" called Woodcat which is my single of the week so far. A lot of you included the Tunng album in your top 10's of the last 10 years so we know they mean a lot to a lot of you. I was wondering what would happen to them after leaving the comfy warmness of Static Caravan.... Well they've come up with an absolutely fantastic tune full of warmth, feeling, melody and it's really unlike much else at the moment. Mark has just said his voice sounds like Syd Barrett.... The flipside has a Viva Voce mix which is taken up a notch with a syncopated beat and a slight cinematic/ Bond feel....... You want this more than you want to eat tonight. Eating's for losers.....

• Piccadilly Records, April 2006

Tunng's debut album was so fantastic, that it's hard to imagine that they could possibly match it on the follow up, but they have! The new album, which is due soon, sounds amazing and we all love it here. This single is the first taster from the album and as you'd expect it's full of delicately picked guitar and low key electronic interference: a deceptively simple song, perfectly executed.

• Is This Music? magazine, April 2006

Woodcat is the first single to be released from Tunng’s forthcoming second album Comments Of The Inner Chorus. It’s a thoroughly pleasing blend of folk and electronica which starts off sounding (oddly) like an educated version of The Streets and finishes by sounding like The Postal Service without the high production values. Surprisingly superb. (4 stars)

• Drowned In Sound, April 2006

• Mixmag, May 2006

Electronic freak-folk and horny funk from fast-rising band.

Bearded London folktronicists Tunng have a fresh mix of urban and rustic. Their clicks and blips, acoustic guitars and acid-fried folk harmonies blend perfectly, like the soundtrack to a deeply wrong fairytale. 'Woodcat' is a spooky song about getting turned into a hare; Viva Voce's flipside mix amazingly manages to turn it into horn-led funk. (4 stars)

• International DJ magazine, May 2006:

Last year folktronica came back out of the muesli-chewing, teepee-residing cul de sac it had found itself in, and got back into making music with guitars with an occasional tendency to bust a b-boy stance. step up tunng, who follow jose, fink, micah and their mates with a quite lovely line in singing wierdy beardy songs of turning girls into woodland animals. (4 stars)

• Fact magazine, April/May 2006:

Shhh yourself for the (gulp) pastoral-tronica of a seven-piece who're as understated as they are passionate as they are candid as they are, naturally, big of beard: beautiful music from a burgeoning new folk axis.

• Unpeeled, April 2006:

This is exactly the kind of record that jaded hacks need to hear every now and then. "Woodcat" is all warm vibrancy and easy quirks, no pretence and sumptuously simple melodies. The fact that they take all sorts of gentle electro liberties is fine, it is their record after all. Of course, it could be yours as well...

The Pioneers

• ltd. one-sided 7"/CD: Static Caravan [VAN99]

• BBC Collective, 2nd February 2006:

Aaand finally, something of an oddity, but a good one. The Pioneers EP (Static Caravan) sees electro-folk duo Tunng take the yelpy Bloc Party hit of the same name and round off the edges to transform it into a gorgeous, Beta Band-esque torch song. A few plays on the right radio shows and this could turn out to be one of those "surprise hits" that come around all too infrequently.

Joe Madden

• Norman Records, 27th January 2006:

Tunng... Everyone's favourite new folk pop act have their final release on Static Caravan ever apparently as they have moved to new pastures. It's a cover of Bloc Party's 'Pioneers' as well but you probably knew that by now. It works surprisingly well and it's really quite tremendous. Tunng's trademark clicky beats, acousticness and breathy vocals. Brian thinks the vocals sound like Parsley Sound. I've never made that connection before but I can see it now. 100% heartily recommended!

• Losing Today, February 2006

Viva Voce - Wrecking Ball

• 7" (clear vinyl): Full Time Hobby [FTH011S]

• Birmingham Post, 12th December 2005:

Viva Voce's new labelmates, the digital folk combo Tunng, lend a remix to the flipside, which sees the lead track reinvented as a skewed, psychedelic lullaby with picked guitars, double-tracked vocals, found sounds and skittering ambient percussion. Exhilarating stuff.

Simon Harper

• Norman Records, 25th November 2005:

What may be of interest is the surprise Tunng remix we've just discovered on the flip. The lass's sweet cooing voice set over some prime organic electronic flecked folk that has all the hallmarks of genius we've come to demand from these exquisite paganeers. Beautiful & beguiling stuff.

Magpie Bites

• 7": Nowhere Fast [SLOW03]

• Losing Today, February 2006

• SoundsXP, January 2006:
• A limited single release (1000 copies) on a Dutch label, Tunng continue to ignore genre boundaries. ‘Magpie Bites’ is a mesmerising mix of folky acoustics and busy electronica, overlaying electronic crackles to gorgeous harmonies and producing an effect like a hallucinogenic flashback while watching Camberwick Green. ‘The Bonnie Black Hare’ is a traditional song but the complex electronic patterning and Uncle Ric Wilde’s treated vocals make it sound effortlessly contemporary as well as completely captivating. Another Tunng triumph then.

• Norman Records, 25th November 2005:
• Tunng are back with a new 2 track 7" with exclusive tracks not to be on any forthcoming release and it's numbered of 1000 copies with a poster. That really should be enough to entice anyone to buy one. The word that springs to mind here is crackly. Both sides being cracklier (intentionally we reckon) than a load of pig skin surrounded by a ton of Christmas crackers filled with crack and crackers. Crackly electroni-folk for the underground masses. The A side is a total Tunng corker and worth every penny. Overall.... it's very Tunng...

Dream Brother - The Songs Of Tim & Jeff Buckley

• CD: Full Time Hobby [FTH008CD]

• Pitchfork, 18th October 2005:
• Tunng deconstruct "No Man Can Find the War" to stunning effect, leaving fleet fingerpicking and low harmonies over subtle electronic percussion, with a casual delivery that makes the grim imagery of the lyrics even darker.

• Whisperin & Hollerin, September 2005

• BBC Collective, September 2005

Tunng vs Dollboy vs Dollboy vs Tunng

• 7": Static Caravan/Different Drummer [VAN94;Diff7-28]

• Losing Today, May 2005:
• This kids is ultra limited (okay we lie – 1000 copies but bet your backside it’ll sell out in an instant) and features Tunng who as you know are this years the Earlies who themselves where the last years Polyphonic Spree – is this making sense? How fickle you kids are. One immense album under their belt ('Mothers daughter and other songs'), Tunng for the more than casual viewers of Singled Out should be no strangers having littered these very pages with a small but select flurry of divinely crafted melodic treats. This particular release sees them musically mutated with Dollboy (home to ex members of Cooler who during the 90’s remixed everybody worthwhile remixing while finding time to release a plethora of critically acclaimed singles, as Dollboy they have released ‘Plans for a modern city’ to the collective swoon of the ambient cognoscenti). Okay so what you get is Tunng remixing Dollboy and Dollboy returning the favour by re-grooving Tunng, simple innit. First under the microscope is ‘People Folk’ from the aforementioned Tunng album now re-titled ‘The Rushey Green Morris Mix’ (don’t ask) which finds the trademark ‘Wicker Man’ vibes we love and cherish so much put on the back burner and in their place an absolutely magical cortege of exotic Eastern back drops and hazily head tripping wobbly lullaby-esque rhythms taking centre stage to flood your consciousness and take you unbeknownst on an astral boat ride, sort of a musical Lewis Carroll with stronger weed. Flip over for Dollboy’s ‘Cymbaline and Celeste’ now recast as ‘The Dollbeast Mix’ and being playfully twiddled and tinkered with by Tunng to something approaching near pastoral perfection. Originally found appearing on the aforementioned ‘Plans for a modern city’ full length (that’s two mentions now) Tunng strip the original to the core and supplant the blueprint coda with their fragile doey eyed leftfield acoustic glitch pop sensibilities, the result – a twinkling gem that strangely sounds like Robert Wyatt if truth be told. You must own this. Nuff said our kid.

• autresdirections.net, August 2005

• Norman Records, 29th April 2005:
• A really limited collaborative split 7" on Static Caravan. One of Tunng's way fine album trax given a mellow spaced out re-rub by Dollboy (where are these guys from? Is it NZ??). The Tunng boys return the favour on 'Cymbaline & Celeste', a twinkling beauty of pastoral folk spliced with the warmest, organic electronics. This truly IS future music for the soul. If you didn't get the Tunng abum then you are either a/ deaf or b/ insane. Listen up.

mother's daughter and other songs

• CD/LP: Static Caravan [VAN88]

• Aquarius Records, April 2006:
• Released last year on Static Caravan in the UK, and only now re-issued stateside on cd by Ace Fu, we've been wanting to review this for a while, but only recently were we able to finally get enough to list.
• Imagine if the Beta Band, instead of following in Beck's funky folk footsteps, were born of the current underground cd-r culture, their electronica tinged folk more a product of New Weird America and musical compatriots like Devendra Banhart than MTV or the NME. Thus, Tunng. Rich and lush strummed acoustic guitars, gorgeous harmony vocals, droney and drifting, a crackling campfire intimacy, glitchy skittery beats, strange found sounds, hiccuping loops, skipping cds, an unlikely combination, but the result is totally amazing. Like a Boards Of Canada produced Vetiver record, or the Feathers Family recording for Warp, this is classic sounding seventies British folk, filtered through a damaged off kilter electronica kaleidoscope. Banjos collide with shuffling muted drum machines, soft tonal chimes drift over sweetly fingerpicked guitars, soft hushed vocals emote over a smattering of glitches and squelches, a gorgeous guitar figure will begin to skip, faster and faster, smearing into an ambient soundscape that underpins a whispery sadboy croon and delicate shimmering chimes. So totally lovely. This has been one of our most listened-to records lately, check out the sound samples and you'll immediately understand why.

• Piccadilly Records 'Best of 2005' - no.2:
• Unfairly pigeonholed with the English 'folktronica' tag, Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay’s Tunng performed a genuinely spectrum-spanning debut. Earning rich praise from all corners and a live session on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide, their mix of folksy acoustics and virus-ridden sequencers won over all the more adventurous listeners who had the presence of mind to hear it.

• Ptolemaic Terrascope, May 2005:
• One of my favourite singles of last year was ‘Tale From The Black/Pool Beneath The Pond’ by Tunng, which displayed a sense of the surreal beneath its pulsing electronic heart. Now comes their debut album, a stunning collection of infectious and beautiful songs. Mixing acoustic instruments and electronic sounds, the album drifts along like a hazy summers day, each song gently fading into the next, as the songs weave their magic around the listener. Opening song ‘Mother’s Daughter’ sets out the bands manifesto perfectly, distorted electronic voices mixed into the picked acoustic guitars, whilst the lyrics are half- sung, half-chanted giving the song a hypnotic quality. Throughout the album there is a folksy feel created by the traditional instrument and excellent vocal delivery, whilst underneath, the percussion scratches and picks at the songs, the occasional, and well chosen, sample creating tension and changing the songs dynamics. In the wrong hands this blending of folk and electronica could lead to a cacophony as each sound struggles to gain the upper hand, with Tunng however the blend is perfect, each song a complete and satisfying experience. Nowhere is this balance more finely illustrated than on ‘Song Of The Sea’ a simple song played on guitars/banjos with gentle lyrics and handclaps for percussion, yet underpinned with samples and distant sound effects that compliment the melody without disrupting its flow. On the other hand, there is ‘Kinky Vans’ where the electronic heart takes centre stage, the sounds compressed, cut-up and generally messed about with creating a far more abstract piece of work, although still fitting into the overall ambience of the album.
• On this album Tunng have produced an original and highly enjoyable collection of songs which produces surprises with every listen and never fails to have me singing along with its melodic groove.
• Simon Lewis

• Birmingham Post, 11th April 2005:
• The duo of singer Sam Genders and producer Mike Lindsay have created one of the year’s finest releases so far. Otherworldly and enchanting, the hastily applied ‘folktronica’ tag doesn’t do justice to the dark beauty of Mother’s Daughter, which bridges the gap between traditional folk and ambient soundscapes.
• Cloaked in darkness, it has a broad scope that allows for acoustic finger-picking and skittering beats, updating folk for the glitch-pop generation. Revealing new treasures with each listen, this is a densely layered record and a potent amalgam of styles, old and new. Comparisons with Four Tet and Adem seem redundant, although Tunng are similarly successful in digitally updating gentle folk – perhaps the best point of reference is the hypnotic folk-hop of the Beta Band’s early EPs. Mother’s Daughter sounds strikingly original, and its skewed leanings have much to offer for willing ears. There really is no excuse for not owning this.
• Simon Harper (5 stars)

• The Stranger, March 2005:
• Eerily beautiful electronica melded with acoustic guitars, soulful vocals and raw percussive beats, this stunning album fires the imagination, evoking memories of sunny days lying in sand dunes. In actual fact, producer/guitarist Mike Lindsay and singer/guitarist Sam Genders recorded the whole thing beneath a lingerie shop. Like the Beta Band? You'll dig this.
• MW

• Comes With A Smile, Winter 2005:
• Mike Lindsay, aka Tunng, knows that what goes around comes around. There are now people half my age discovering Vashti Bunyan, just as I was once pointed towards Pentangle by people twice my age. I was born in 1972 but, here in my thirties, it feels like I'm having my own 1970s. The folk process proves everything remains the same simultaneous to it changing forever. So what's new? John Martyn, via his Witchseason/Fairports backing,owed as much to the electric Miles Davis as he did to Bert Jansch. Thus we now have a trend, a pigeonhole, 'folktronica', label it how you will. Digging Boards Of Canada as much as Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart. I mean 'dig' in an archaeological sense as well. Equally at home with a Takemine, an iBook or a shovel.
• But how to avoid the inevitable FourTet comparisons? Well they're not undeserved, actually. On the 'Mothers Daughter' intro especially, but Coil's agrarian weirdness is just as detectable. Picking and glitch mixes with finger chimes on 'People Folk', with peculiar noir samples on 'Beautiful and Light', Delia Darbyshire chaperoned shotgun into marrying Donovan. 'Tale From Black' is utterly sublime, yet again calling forth the same muses as Kieran Hebden. This is...wonderful!
• Steve Hanson

• The Daily Telegraph, 29th January 2005:
• Great British acts - from Bowie to Soft Cell, the Beatles to Radiohead - have always incorporated new electronic trickery into their songwriting. And so it is now, with a subtly splendid new crop of "indietronica" albums: the melancholic Arab Strap offshoot L Pierre, the cute but emotive Psapp, the electro-meets-psychedelia sound of Bitmap, and gorgeous records from Hood and Tunng. 'Mothers Daughter..' is the more disorienting of the two. Though the folky melodies and instrumentation seem superficially more cheerful and familiar than the Hood sound, the lyrical non-sequiturs and strange electronic processing of voices make it a heady brew. Strange imagery of genetic codes and radio signals binds with the traditional sounds to create futuristic folk music.
• Joe Muggs (4 stars)

• DJ magazine, 21st January 2005:
• An unusual and distinctive name, Tunng. It suits the music. Equal parts 'The Wicker Man' soundtrack, The Beta Band and Fourtet, theirs is a folky, acoustic guitar-led foray into vistas of subtle electronic beats 'n' bleeps. This has been done before, I hear you say, but rarely as effectively as this. 'Code Breaker' is almost folk house, its 4/4 rhythm and hushed guitars a beguling combination. 'People Folk' is a bewitching mantra of undulating, cyclical guitar, repeated harmonic vocals and synthetic beats. Meanwhile, 'Beautiful and Light' tells a melancholic tale over snatches of film dialogue and sad, minor key guitars. The perfectly pitched vocals and electronic sheen of this LP make it truly stand out from the hordes of undistinguished folk-tronica around. A cracker.
• Ben Murphy (4 stars)

• Big Chill, 17th January 2005:
• To be honest, if I’d been told a couple of years ago that the must-have record of January 2005 would be an English folk album with lyrics demanding that you ‘sing me a song of the sea’ or insisting that ‘thou art not Satan’s girl Doreen, thou art not Satan’s girl’ I’d have assumed I’d become trapped in one of Pete Lawrence’s more optimistically fevered dreams. And yet, coming as it does in the wake of the Memory Band, Adem, Gravenhurst, James Yorkston, and more tenuously Four Tet, Pedro and Matmos’s Civil War LP, the appearance of the debut album from Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay, seems not only unsurprising, but virtually inevitable.
• For all the folky twinges of those other acts, Tunng go far further into indigenous English music’s pastoral past than any of their contemporaries. The melodies and vocal delivery are so beard-tweakingly authentic that one expects to see the words ‘trad. arr.’ on each writing credit. But no, pay close attention and the originality of these songs can never be in doubt. ‘Like Watson and Crick you look into my soul. And though my DNA is too small for your scope, you make it much deeper.’ That’s not a lyric you would have heard on a Spinners album, but it sits comfortably here on ‘Codebreaker’. More significantly, the melodies are backed by highly accomplished and at times highly challenging arrangements. Traditional acoustic guitar parts are deconstructed and reassembled into flickering staccato bursts; glitchy static trickles down the surface of organic percussion; olde worlde vocals meet the 21st Century studio in echoing, filtered breakdowns; movie and TV dialogues are sampled and dropped into the equation. In short, the last things you expect to hear on a folk album are here in abundance.
• If you want to seek out and sample tracks, then you could do worse than ‘Beautiful and Light’ which more than lives up to its name, or the remarkably haunting ‘Song of the Sea,’ but this is an album which deserves to be heard in its entirety, unfolding as it does with leisurely mastery.
• It’s not my normal practice to refer to other reviews but just this once I cannot resist a footnote. The NME has offered this record reluctant, sneering praise, stating along the way that ‘Tunng are about as far from the zeitgeist as possible.’ In their long and vainglorious history of getting things wrong, seldom can that paper have been so spectacularly mistaken about anything. If they removed their snouts from Pete Doherty’s troubled trough for long enough to look around and sniff the air, they would certainly realise that Tunng are actually closer to the zeitgeist than NME has been for many, many years.
• Enchanted Gordon

• Norman Records, 14th January 2005:
• Something that is great this week - the album by Tunng on Static Caravan. Now this is a CD/LP you should all buy. It takes its cue from the marvellous music on the soundtrack to The Wicker Man but pours it through the clicks and chops of late 90's electronica. The vocals have a drifty, druggy Beta Band thing going on. There's lots of interesting production effects to keep your ears awake and the biggest plus point? It has great memorable songs and hooks - I mean you're not going to be caught singing along stadium style but they snag in your head and sound better after every listen. Recommended.

• Boomkat, 14th January 2005:
• Hugely anticipated debut from Static Caravan, this album from Mike Lindsay and Sam Genders has already been jumped on by every savvy critic and tastemaker in the land - and for once the hype is entirely justified. Tunng's production imbues the traditional structures and instrumentation of folk music with an electronic edge - though in the most unusual, retiring sense. Many comparisons have been made with early Beta Band - and it's a good starting point. Much of the material on "This Is..." brings to mind the unusual compositions and layered vocals of the wondrous "3 EPs" - while the production values fit in with this label's continued infatuation with both sides of the musical spectrum. Like a re-configured rework of the folksy blue hue of Nick Drake, Tunng's debut is surely set to be one of this years more longstanding and influential debuts - a brilliant opening gambit for 2005 from one of our favourite labels. Huge recommendation....

• The Sunday Times, 9th January 2005:
• The guitarist and producer Mike Lindsay grew up in Derby, abandoning his early mentor, the folk singer John Tams, to play in teenage thrash-metal bands that he soon came to despise. His friend Sam Genders rescued him from a stint scoring soft porn for The Fantasy Channel by introducing him to the soundtrack of the psychedelic pagan movie masterpiece The Wicker Man, which is replacing The Velvet Underground's first album as the essential left-field rock touchstone. The duo mixed the patchouli-oiled pastoralism of Christopher Lee's Summer Isle community with flickering electronica, dramatic snatches of sampled dialogue and clattering beats to become Tunng. Their first album echoes the Beta Band's eclectic but usually tuneful approach to experimentation, and will appeal to fans of Fourtet's hand-carved computerised soundscapes or Candidate's similarly arts-and-crafts-inflected pop.
• Stewart Lee (3 stars)

• Independent On Sunday, 9th January 2005:
• More unapologetic folktronica, but this time prepare yourself for the pagan invasion. Because, wafting up from the now familiar formula of beeps, beats and acoustic loops, Tunng (producer/guitarist Mike Lindsay and singer/guitarist Sam Genders) add ditties to make the Wicker Man shiver. You can practically feel Edward Woodward banging on the walls as Mike and Sam wonder whether thou ist or istn't Satan's daughter. "People Folk" is perfect for turfing-out time in Hoxton and 'Mothers Daughter' is a spell-binding and beguiling debut album.
• SR (3.5 stars)

• The Independent, 7th January 2005:
• As might be expected of a duo who perform "Maypole Song" from The Wicker Man in their live shows, there's a distinctly bucolic tone to Tunng's debut album - albeit one tempered with a sharp edge of modernity, courtesy of the beats and samples with which producer Mike Lindsay embellishes the folk-song stylings of singer Sam Genders. The result is a quirky, distinctive blend of ancient and modern, its combination of acoustic guitars, folksy ruminations and glitch-tronica rhythms resembling a digital-age Pentangle. It's one of the more successful exercises in folktronica since Momus first coined the phrase back in 2001, thanks largely to Genders' ability to draw on elemental imagery both metaphysical (lines such as "Thou art not Satan's girl" and "I saw the sun fall on everyone") and scientific ("Like Watson and Crick, you seem to look into my soul"), and Lindsay's knack for disrupting any cosy nostalgic tendencies with sudden interjections of things such as door-intercom buzzers and canned applause. Best of all is "Tale from Black", in which lines such as "She knows when they jail her they'll grind down the key" capture something of the dark, cataclysmic extremity of traditional folk songs.
• Andy Gill (3 stars)

• The Guardian, 7th January 2005:
• In the absence of any better suggestions, it seems we're saddled with the laboured tag "folktronica" to describe the kind of music that intertwines the squeak of finger on guitar string with the stutter and gulp of the laptop. Following in the footsteps of Adem and Four Tet are singer Sam Genders and producer Mike Lindsay, whose CV includes a spell writing soft-porn soundtracks for Richard Desmond's Fantasy Channel - not that there's any obvious connection, unless one of the films he worked on was called Confessions of a Wicker Man. The 10 songs here all sound as if they were composed on some remote Scottish island, then electronically interfered with en route. People Folk has the clattering, mantric drone of early Beta Band, while Surprise Me does exactly what its title promises, with Genders extending a homely invitation "to light the fires when the sun goes down" over unlikely ray-gun spurts and rattling dancehall jolts.
• Dorian Lynskey (3 stars)

• Read more reviews...>>>

Maypole Song (The)

• lathe-cut 7": Static Caravan [VAN73]

• Losing Today, September 2004:
• Here’s a sly little gem of a record to tuck you up for night. Again one of those lathe cut clear polycarbonate releases that are, as is always the case, extremely limited, this one in fact strictly to 100 pressings and features Tunng who we honestly believe will be the subject of a fair number of critical lists in the very near future. They have an album in the can and ready for imminent release entitled ‘Mothers daughter and other songs’ and so good is it that we like to reckon all who’ll hear will, by rights, fall head long in love with before term times out. In fact this disc even features a tasty teaser in the shape of ‘Surprise me 44’.

  Tunng are normally to be found filed under the leftfield / experimental umbrella. It’s probably a mistake to assume such as while they tread a similar lulling path to many of the current crop of so called folk-tronic artists such as J Xaverre, their acoustic glitch pop owes more to the softening folk styles so often found hiding amid the Fence Collective roster. In fact the inclusion here of a cover of ‘The Maypole Song’ (originally on the ‘Wicker Man’ soundtrack) bears testament that spiritually they are a more reclining version of Candidate (who themselves have released an album ‘Nuada’ inspired by the same film) but with the accompaniment of skipping clicks and blips. It’s a well thought-out idea to include the cover as it fits perfectly with the sleepy eyed rustic charm that seems to pervade throughout their compositions, creating that unseen bridge between the timeless and the tranquil. ‘Surprise me 44’ takes you doey-eyed by the hand to skip without a care in the world through enchanted woods, breathlessly dizzy and docile. Very much sounding like a more upbeat and less tortured King Creosote, mellow, laid back and shimmering with mouth watering desire

Tale From Black

• 7": Static Caravan [VAN72]

• Ptolemaic Terrascope, 2004:
• Tunng offer us 'Tale from Black' backed with 'Pool beneath the Pond'. Track one is a early Floyd-like gem with gentle instrumentation and plenty of backwards keyboards, but it is the B-side that really excels as an atmospheric electronic pulse gently guides us into a poorly lit underwater world where strange things happen between its inhabitants.

• Norman Records, June 2004:
• One of the biggest surprises this week is the new Static Caravan 7" by Tunng. Early Beta Band & Badly Drawn Boy, The Wicker Man soundtrack & "Elizabeth My Dear" by The Stone Roses spring immediately to mind. Beautiful folk guitar, dreamy Ian Brown esque lullaby vocals & a drum machine. Also sounds as if the wonderful Cocorosie have hijacked the backing vocals. Would love to know what that brief sample is lifted from, Geoff old boy! Yep. My single of the week, just wicked!

• Boomkat, June 2004:
• Absolutely fabulous new 7" on the ever-adorable, reliable and on-the-mark Static Caravan imprint. "Tale From The Black", incredibly, is the debut release from Tunng, striding a gloriously accomplished line through folk and all the marvellous permutations it seems to have spawned over the last few years. The title track strums through Will Oldham-esque singer songwriting with a delicate brilliance that we couldn't possibly over-emphasise, while the flipside track "Pool Beneath The Pond" shows a canny savvy with a banjo and electronic tinkering, Just fabulous. We hope Static hold on to these guys, you just know listening to this remarkable debut that there'll be a clamour of interest in an artist destined for big things. Killer.

• Smallfish, June 2004:
• Unusually acoustic release on Static Caravan. Two tracks from Tunng - the first a sort of Nick Drake-styled folky ballad that starts in abstract electronic mode then becomes becomes a straight piece of singer-song-writing with a strong electronic beat in the backround and a few snippets of glitch. Flip for a similar vein, but a slightly more abstract feel. Classic folk-tronica. Recommended...