- Label: 'Some Other Planet Records'
- Genre: 'Folk'
- Release Date: '22nd June 2018'
Our Rating:
Grimm Grimm is the musical moniker of London-based, Tokyo-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Koichi Yamanoha. There’s nothing remotely grim about this collection of wistful, mellow, acoustic-led indie-folk tunes – although there are keys and theramin and all sorts in the mix, bringing not only texture ad range, but a certain trippy oddness. Is it Grimm in the fairy tale sense? Sort of. Maybe. Lilting, dreamy melodies define the album, which conveys anything but the tension of its title for the most part.
Then again, the sparse yet murky pulsations of ‘Afraid’ are more reminiscent of The Cure’s ’17 Seconds’ than the jaunty and refreshingly innocent-sounding Syd Barratt-esque psyche-hued folksiness that dominate ‘Cliffhanger’.
Easy on the ear and as light as air, it’s anything but light on musical craft: making music this overtly simple and seemingly effortless is not easy. But Yamanoha demonstrates a rare and natural mastery, and ‘Cliffhanger’ is a deceptively rich work.
