Hen Ogledd began as a noisy duo between guitarist and sometimes avant folksinger
Richard Dawson and extended-technique harpist
Rhodri Davies. They played seldomly, but released records almost as often as they had gigs, second album Bronze consisting of recordings of their second-ever gig and first time playing with third member Dawn Bothwell. These noisy beginnings couldn't prepare even the most unshakable listeners for third album
Mogic, which takes a turn toward pop so sharply that the band is all but unrecognizable from its earlier forms. This evolution is by no means disappointing, nor does it point toward a hungry bid for more listeners by entering the arena of mainstream pop.
Mogic, while less untethered and formless, retains the curiosity, playful electronic weirdness, and woodland mysticism that
Hen Ogledd displayed in their wild improvisations, and simply translates them into a different iteration. Elements of the band's ugly noise are woven into more traditional pop songs, as with the threads of demonic synth dissonance on "First Date," the electro sound collage freakout "Transport & Travel," and the wild-eyed rhythmic rattle of "Welcome to Hell." If this is pop music, it's pop approaching its most demented. New member Sally Pinklington shines on standout track "Sky Burial," her vocals gliding over relaxed verses until the song blooms into melancholic vocodered choruses. It's one of several songs on the album where lyrics inspect the tenuous relationship between technology and humanity, and perhaps the best expression of a strange foreboding feeling that lingers throughout
Mogic. The
Dawson-sung "Problem Child" leans more toward post-punk angst,
Dawson's falsetto vocals sounding somewhere between
Peter Gabriel and a lost
Bauhaus track as the band bangs angrily behind him. Also contributing fluid basslines,
Dawson's playing gives wings to the creepy funk of "Tiny Witch Hunter." By the time the synthy atmospheres of final song "Etheldreda" arrive, it becomes clear that no two moments of
Mogic sound all that much alike. It's an album of drastic, sometimes polar shifts. Emblemized by this restless shifting and a deep fascination with the interactions of humans and the machines they create,
Mogic offers a truly adventurous take on the constraints of pop. While it's easily the most accessible material from the project to date, a few listens will reveal that it's every bit as chaotic as their early outsider sounds. ~ Fred Thomas