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Broads - Ollust

Review

Ollust by Broads

A powerful yet understated exercise in painting a landscape in sound

Norfolk's Broads have teamed up with folk singer Milly Hirst on Ollust, an album of quiet, meditative music inspired by their local landscapes and culture.

Over six tracks, hushed piano chords crosshatch with field recordings and other processed sounds (including Hirst's "wordless vocals") creating a dreamlike state, perfect for contemplation. Moments of self-realisation come into focus as life unexpectedly emerges, be it a church bell, a distant seagull or inclement weather. The rising emotion as second track Thetford builds with soaring synths and a glitchy rhythm signals an important but unnamed event in this story, while Strangers (essentially a microcosm of the whole) begins with bare-bones piano and increasing layers of sound, turning stormy halfway through with feedback and noise, before the calm returns.

All in, a powerful yet understated exercise in painting a landscape in sound.

If you only listen to one track

Oulton

RIYL

Craven Faults, Dalham

Label

Humm Recordings

Release date

06 Mar 2020

Tracklist

  1. Happisburgh
  2. Thetford
  3. Oulton
  4. Octagon
  5. Strangers
  6. Dereham
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