Rating: NNNN
You can almost picture AroarA – the Montreal duo of Ariel Engle, who performs in a satiny black-and-pink hooded cape, and Andrew Whiteman of Broken Social Scene/Apostle of Hustle – standing in the woods over a smoking cauldron, stirring in handfuls of hypnotic polyrhythms, drops of eerie imagery, tangles of Engle’s searing vocals and whispers of Whiteman’s more understated ones. Their debut full-length album is minimalist blues-folk (they use the term “faux folk”) of a strikingly original variety.
Based on Alice Notley’s avant-garde poetry collection In The Pines, about a woman haunted by Depression-era visions while undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C, the 14 songs come across as incantations – divined into existence and slowly building with intertwined voices, guitar-string-plucking, old-sounding samples and bare-bones beats. Engle’s potent voice has a magic all its own: on ghostly piano-driven #14, it’s almost a whine – a plea, but a beautiful one. Meanwhile, #1 soars with impassioned soulfulness.
Top track: #14
Aroara play the Music Gallery September 5.