The new underground phenomenon is her, Anja Plaschg. Because she is 19 years old. Because she comes from Gnas, a village in Styria (Austria, but towards Slovakia; oh well, in the middle of the woods) unknown even to Austrians themselves. Because she has a distinctively dark style: pale skin and black clothes, unsettling poses and a spectral gaze, as if she stepped out of a novella by Poe retouched by Dostoevsky. Because her album sounds like few recent releases, and it sounds quite somber.

There's a pinch of apocalypses in these thirteen songs. To be set in some Central European cemetery against the backdrop of a gothic cathedral. Nico of "Desertshore" inhabits the territories of immense music, but a bit of her catastrophe-poured-on-the-piano can undoubtedly be heard here; and much of her Teutonic nature. The piano is struck, often violated, with a physical attitude that is audible on the album, while the troubled voice vomits fears emerging from childhood. Freud, among others, was Austrian.

The (few) relaxing moments are less appealing ("Cry Wolf", "Extinguish Me"), although among these, the excellent "Turbine Womb", a dark instrumental music box that dabbles in the funereal, should be cautiously placed. Plaschg's true ability is to blend classical and experimental, tradition and technology, so that the album sounds both timeless and extremely modern, smelling of conservatory (dust, sheet music, rain) and metallic synth. If many tracks are only slightly adorned by electronic intrusions ("Thanatos", "Spiracle"), others are permeated by them: "Fall Foliage" is torn in half by heavy beats and rustles, "Marche Funèbre" is what the title implies, and it is in a medieval ecclesiastical atmosphere of a tableau vivant where sharp larsen and mortuary screams appear (pure noir); "DDMMYYYY", then, is pure machine.

Not everything comes together, and some immaturity remains, either in overly marked hues or in dull episodes that do not reveal, beyond the perfectly recreated dark atmosphere, a great compositional idea. Soon the girl will be in Italy and we’ll see if it’s true glory, or if the pose predominates. Meanwhile, the indie crowd's cries of masterpiece are irritating but do not overshadow the essence of a work that, side elements aside, leaves a mark.

Tracklist and Videos

01   Sleep (02:46)

02   Cry Wolf (03:50)

03   Thanatos (02:36)

04   Extinguish Me (02:40)

05   Turbine Womb (03:48)

06   Cynthia (02:59)

07   Fall Foliage (02:46)

08   Spiracle (02:52)

09   Mr. Gaunt Pt 1000 (02:29)

10   Marche funèbre (03:01)

11   The Sun (03:16)

12   DDMMYYYY (03:40)

13   Brother of Sleep (05:29)

14   Untitled (feat. Lily Cogwheel) (02:30)

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Other reviews

By Slowdiver

 She plays the piano with ferocity or tenderness, sometimes singing softly and sometimes shouting.

 Strong music, subtly violent and cold, undoubtedly dark and melancholic.


By bacotabacco

 The little voice, tender like a child's. Becoming a woman. And shouting. And freeing itself.

 Chaos and calm. Scream loud, vomit out the gases, the poisons, the toxins.


By Jesper

 Piano and laptop immediately engage in a dialogue with an intense voice, comparable to the pathos of Nico, but with a more gentle aftertaste.

 "Lovetune For Vacuum," with all its small flaws, remains an album to be listened to in the intimacy of one’s room.