IRAH, named for an entity that Danish vocalist Stine Grøn encountered during meditation, is a collaboration between Grøn and respected pianist, Adi Zukanović, a Bosnian refugee who came to Denmark as a four-year-old when his family fled Sarajevo when war broke out in the early 1990’s.
Their collaboration has resulted in an evocative and generally relaxing album, whose style is characterised and well described in the title of quiet, minimal seven-minute Cinematic. Cinematic also showcases Grøn’s knack for finding a catchy melody, also found in Dream Self, which, along with Matrix, Worship the Sun and others on the album, reminds me of Bjork.
But while sometimes catchy, IRAH are not poppy, and there are lots of classical, folky and eastern-style vocal melody lines peppered throughout the album, which provide the variety against a more consistent audio canvas provided by piano and synth lines and some great drumming by Seb Rochford, who rarely grabs the attention but works in carefully-put-together lines and manages to elevate every song he appears on.
There are other parallels here, too, with comparisons to Portishead and with Polluted Hearts very much evoking Radiohead’s ‘Everything in its Right Place’.
My stand-out tune, Siu Hinama brings to mind the soundtrack to the animated series Ghost in the Shell and the music (though not the style, vocals or instrumentation) of Perfect Circle.
Unfortunately, while I followed music in this style in the early 2000’s, including North-West-based Seedy Player, I haven’t really fallen in love with Diamond Grid. That said, while I don’t hugely like it, I do respect it, and for those who the Bjork and Portishead references prick up your ears, I would definitely say this album is worth a listen.
Irah – Diamond Grid: Out Now (Tambourhinocerous Records)
I've been playing bass guitar and guitar for over half my life. I last played bass in in a band called Electromotive and as a singer-songwriter I have written songs about cheese and vajazzles (separate songs!). I started out listening to 60s, 70s and 80s rock as a kid and I was in to grunge and U.S. punk and ska in the 90s. Since then, I've broadened my tastes and I like the best of all styles of music, even country. I've been writing for Silent Radio since it started.
