Tallinn At Dawn (Not Not Fun, 2011)
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+prava devojka za Connan Mockasina
Maria Minerva looks set to become one of the year's most noted female producers/singers on the scene. She won our hearts with that subtly demented 'Noble Savage' 12" for 100% Silk and now has us totally enraptured with her debut full length 'Tallinn At Dawn'. Considering her origins in Estonia, it's possible to say her perceptions of Western pop music have been filtered through a Soviet muslin, narcotically numbed pop peek behind the iron curtain and become assimilated into her naive daydream simulacra. She's now based in London which has obviously turned all that on its head, and shaken it about some. The result is indescribably engrossing and simply too mixed up to pick apart, those influences now part of something insoluble, mutant and fascinating.
If you're not careful, 'California Scheming' will catch your breath, and then hand it back to you with a wink, or was it a glitch? This sly ambiguity courses through the album, from New Aged zone-outs like 'Hop Hop Gone In Spring' to the lysergic lullaby of 'Sad Serenade (Bedroom Rock'n'Roll)', the too-screwed-to-groove Dance memes of 'Strange Things Are Happening In My Room' or the fine line of erotic/naif she glides along on 'Other Side'. By the brilliantly titled '10 Little Rock Chix Listening To Neu!' we're spellbound and wanting to skip to the beginning and do it all again. This lass is way out on her own, but if you've been feeling the likes of Julia Holter, James Ferraro or Psychic Reality, you really, really need to get on this!
