In invoking the otherworldly operatics of Kate Bush levitating serenely through ‘Moving’, along with the yogic leanings of Madonna during her ‘Ray of Light’ phase (chanting her Shanti/Ashtangi mantra), IRAH‘s Stine Grøn has alighted upon the perfect mystical vocal delivery for ‘Fast Travelling’, the Danish trio’s latest single.
A song about “universal love“, it is filled with that mindful compassion which Grøn has been slowly and systematically trying to instil in her audience since the bands inception.
On ‘Fast Travelling’, Stine’s voice, so tender and bewitching, belongs to another world, in another time. Already displaced from modernity, as the song progresses, Grøn’s delivery slips further away from the contemporary, as it flows through an ‘om shanti’ like chant into a blissful meditative state.
With idiosyncratic lightness, Oliver Laumann’s unparalleled percussive orchestration, is a moving combination of hypnotic timpani rolls, soft snare heartbeats and cymbals caressed by the gentlest of breezes.
Laumann, a gifted virtuoso percussionist, whose well honed craft has long given backbone to the experimental compositions of Danish artist, Kentaur, provides the perfect understated partner to synth player Adi Zukanovic. The overall effect of Zuknovic’s stained-glass synth sequences, is to add subtle prismic warmth and colour to the near transparent purity of Grøn’s vocal.
It is not a gross exaggeration to say that the coming together of Laumann, Zukanovic and Grøn is quite the perfect musical storm. Theirs is musical mindfulness at its most spiritually intelligent, delivered with a graceful fluency that belies the energy that sparks subtly beneath.
IRAH, already an established act in their native Denmark, are fast becoming firm favourites on the international scene; a rapid ascendance that has resulted in their announcing some late Autumn live shows (see below), including a London date at the Waiting Room on 10th November (alas no Dublin but we’ll keep dropping hints).
It is testament to their exceptional musicianship and exquisite musical portfolio that IRAH were asked to support the truly sublime and wonderfully talented, Julia Holter, when she recently played the Koncerthus in Copenhagen. What a memorable night that must have been!
In a one word summation, ‘Fast Travelling’, the title of which is an oxymoron in itself, is ‘Transcendental‘. By its very creation, the perfect storm has whipped up the perfect state of musical being.
With that, I’ll leave the final words to Stine Grøn …
“Fast Travelling” is about universal love. The love that travels through time and space, permeates all living, leaving no one behind. The love that solves and heals everything. The invisible all-embracing energy that surrounds us in every moment, – and that we have infinite access to.”
‘Fast Travelling’ is taken from IRAH’s début mini-album, Into Dimensions, which will be released via Tambourhinoceros on 14th October and is available to pre-order it here.
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