Bleep

Ninja Tune’s sub label Counter Records and Modeselektor’s Berlin imprint Monkeytown have teamed up to present us the debut album of Howling. Howling are the duo of Australian musician Ry Cuming aka Ry X and Frank Wiedemann (of Âme), named after their eponymous 2012 hit single. While it wowed everyone with the emotional power it generated from its minimal beat, immediate acoustic guitar backing and Ry X’s intimate falsetto vocals, Sacred Ground continues to sell this effectively tidy production style. Wiedemann works with the concept of danceable rhythms, yet there’s always a thoughtful edge to their arrangements. Using a wide range of instruments including synthesizers, organ, piano, guitar, field recordings and analogue percussion, it’s the melancholic melodies that run through the album as its most obvious thread, at the same time highlighting Cuming’s singer-songwriter background.