Aye! Mirjam Hassig: Coralland

Coralland is the debut album from Ayé! Mirjam Hässig, a quartet led by the young Swiss vocalist and composer Mirjam Hässig. An intense, atmospheric and often haunting recording, it combines original music with original lyrics or with lyrics drawn from classic poetry. The quartet's instrumental mix is unusual: electronic effects, harp and ukulele join a more traditional bass and drums rhythm section to give the music a distinctive sound that is well-matched to Hässig's emotive vocals.

Hässig wrote or collected the words and music over a period of a few years. A common theme across the first three songs is waterworlds: "The secrets of the deep sea, a ritual performed on a shore, a story of a fisherman ..." as she puts it. On the title track, which she wrote, she sings of "Hearing the whales from the ocean's mouth" and, more mysteriously, "Waving to the man with the citrus head." On "Waves," another solo composition, the imagery is of snow, rain, rivers and deep water. "Fisherman" is the album's most ambitious piece, a song in two parts, both with music by Hässig. Part one features lyrics from a poem by Abbie Farwell Brown, in praise of fishermen and their lives that move between land and sea. Part two focuses on Hässig's own words, a more personal message to "the captain of my head."

Lyrics drawn from the works of W.B. Yeats and William Blake feature on two of Coralland's strongest tracks. "Everlasting Voices" takes its lyrics from Yeats' poem of the same name, emphasising his reference to ageing hearts and pairing the words with a sparse backing and some multi-tracked wordless vocals. "Sick Roses," with words from the visionary poet and artist Blake and music by harpist Julie Campiche, is a moody, dark, number sung with almost painful intensity over a slow, heavy, beat and almost scary electronic effects. It all fits together beautifully, if uncomfortably: this is, after all, a poem about the "invisible worm" whose "dark, secret, love does thy life destroy."

"To Human of Power" (words and music by Hässig and Michael Cina) closes Coralland. Harp and bass are to the fore instrumentally, the instruments intertwining beautifully, each giving the other space and leaving plenty of room for Hässig's clear vocals. Once again, the words tell a tale that is not easy to fathom, but voice and music create a distinctive mood. It's a mood that spreads itself across the entirety of the album: one or two lighter moments would help to lift the mood on occasion, but Ayé! Mirjam Hässig can be proud of this debut, a solid and fascinating foundation from which the band can develop.