Les Aus – Haranna hanné

May 1, 2006 • Simple Social Graces Discos

Another long-unheard album comes out of my music vault today: Spanish band Les Aus' Haranna hanné, which I think I listened to once and never revisited. I'm disappointed that was the case because it's actually a pretty solid album, even if it could still use a bit of work.

Most of the songs on this album are a sort of folky noise rock, very reminiscent of bands like Raccoo-oo-oon, also with the tried-and-true guitar-and-drums power duo setup. Like how Raccoo-oo-oon sometimes draws from American folk, Les Aus' music contains a strong influence from Spanish folk music, with the occasional acoustic guitar, folky tribal drums, and flutes.

The drumming is pretty superb throughout the album, with a lot of spastic fills and complicated grooving which is really cool to listen to. The guitar fits in the cracks nicely although the songwriting is a little uninspired. Most of the tracks are over before they have a chance to get off the ground, and the guitar sounds like it's just noodling along most of the time. That's not to say there aren't bits where everything clicks well with a nice guitar line here and there, but I wasn't impressed often.

Unfortunately the folkier bits and the rockier bits stay mostly segregated, and while this allows for some nice interludes, it hardly sounds like the same band is playing on the whole album. But on the more folky rock tracks, such as "La obaga porta a soril", it works brilliantly; that song is probably my favorite because of that. I wish there had been more of the fusion between the two styles because it's apparent that the band can make it work; they just chose not to do so for whatever reason.

So while Haranna hanné isn't fantastic, it's still very listenable and I'm glad I gave it another shot. It's a good reminder to me of how I really need to start looking more into European folk music, something I've neglected for a long time.

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