ALBUM REVIEW: All Thoughts Fly – Anna Von Hausswolff

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF has had a truly inimitable career. Within the last decade she has released five studio albums, both solo and ensemble efforts, and has appeared alongside artists as varied as SWANS, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and TRIBULATION. While she is perhaps best known for her expressive vocal performances, which could be described as lying somewhere between KATE BUSH and DIAMANDA GALÁS, she also performs with the guitar, piano and pipe organ – and it’s that last instrument which is the exclusive focus of her latest album, and Southern Lord Records debut, All Thoughts Fly.

Pipe organs are peculiar instruments. They are essentially a part of the building in which they are situated – most often, churches – and the acoustic qualities of the architecture are as much a part of their individual sound as the particular construction of the organ itself.  All Thoughts Fly was performed and recorded in the Örgryte New Church in Gothenburg, on a “Quarter-comma Meantone tempered North German Baroque organ,” the technicalities of which elude us entirely.

“We took advantage of this so most of the pitching sounds and notes that you hear on the album comes from the mechanics of this organ,” Von Hausswolff explains, “effects made entirely acoustically.” The striking artwork for All Thoughts Fly is a photograph taken within the Sacro Bosco (‘sacred grove’) in the grounds of the Orsini Castle, Italy. The garden features grotesque and mythological sculptures, ruinous buildings, and wild flora: “The people who built this park truly set their minds and imagination free,” Von Hausswolff observes, “All Thoughts Fly is a homage to this creation, and an effort to articulate the atmosphere and the feelings that this place evokes inside of me.”

All Thoughts Fly is a truly transportative piece of art. Ostensibly a collection of live instrumental recordings, there is a sincere and affecting intimacy to these pieces, which could be considered as ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF‘s soundtrack to her own memories and recollections of the surreal imagery of the Sacro Bosco. The album begins with a fantastic introduction to her instrument; a technically accomplished presentation of the Örgryte New Church Organ’s rich and varied timbres. Listen carefully on the sparse beginning of the next track Dolore Di Orsini, and the mechanical sounds of the organ’s valves come into sharp relief before soaring, shrieking drones saturate the soundstage.

Centrepiece Sacro Bosco deserves to be heard alongside Gustaf and Ludvig Holtenäs dreamlike video, itself a reinterpretation of the garden’s unique imagery. Extracting these surreal, otherworldly sounds from the instrument is no mean feat; this track is a showcase for Von Hauswolff’s remarkable compositional skill, in tandem with her deep understanding of the instrument. The pitching drones of Persefone make for a sublime requiem piece leading into Entering, which begins a Glass-like undulating flow, continuing into the title track. The meditative quality of Von Hausswolff’s contemporary compositional style dominates the closing number Outside The Gate (for Bruna); a warm and soothing exit-piece for a beautifully strange album.

While the unique qualities of the Örgryte New Church organ are the exclusive focus of this album, it takes a composer and performer as accomplished as ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF to really make this incomparable instrument sing. This is not your average Sunday service; an enchanting, surreal journey through memory and imagination, All Thoughts Fly redefines the archaic sound of the organ and makes it exciting for a contemporary audience.

Rating: 8/10

All Thoughts Fly is out now via Southern Lord.

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