Send "Tunng " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Even factoring in the tendency for bands to grow less weird as they get older, Tunng's move toward the middle is sort of remarkable. Once a band who incorporated dusty electronics and odd instruments in sweetly bizarre folk songs, Tunng now record folk songs that are sweetly... sweet. That's an indictment, but less of one than it seems. Tunng's fourth album, ...And Then We Saw Land, contains few of the appealing crevices and pocks of their early work, but sees them developing as songwriters.It's fitting that Saw Land is coming out within weeks of reissues of albums by the Incredible String Band, another British folk band that was always weirder in concept than reality. Tunng probably never deserved the laborious mini-genres they've been tagged with, as they fit neatly in a tradition of British bands who have a slightly warped take on pastoral folk. Saw Land features stronger songwriting than the too-even Good Arrows, which in retrospect feels like a transitional album. The increased presence of Becky Jacobs' vocals further separates Saw Land from Tunng's mumble-y, bookish albums. Tunng still employ electronics, but instead of scattering them throughout the mix, here they construct gentle, noticeable grooves. "Sashimi", Saw Land's hookiest track, opens with a fervent acoustic guitar, one that eventually shares space with a chiming rhythmic loop. It's probably the closest Tunng have ever sounded to MOR indie rock, which might say more about the prevalence of folk and electronic elements in modern indie than it does about Tunng's transition....full text |
| Guardian |
| Clearly keen to escape the "folktronica" tag, Tunng try for a more organic sound on this fourth album; a set that could be reproduced live, no less. The group's trademark bleeps and laconic vocals are still in place, but pianos, guitars and singalongs all have more prominence, with singer Becky Jacobs handed a more conspicuous role. Yet while Tunng's lovable English eccentricity lives on, a sense of adventure is missing – the burbles of vintage synths on "Sashimi" and some frightful rock guitar on "By Dusk" scarcely count – and for all its determined diversity, the album feels oddly undercooked....full text |
| Popmatters |
| The final chorus of East London-based collective Tunng’s fourth record features the lyric “let it be beautiful when we sing the last song”, and serves partially as an indicator for what to expect from the rest of the preceding songs. Ever whimsical in their previous work, maybe even capricious, they have calmed down in many ways here, letting anthemic melodies and communal sing-alongs dominate. For many bands, this is the moment when the hardcore depart as the converts are attracted by this hot new sound. If that happens for Tunng, then the hardcore weren’t worth having anyway because And Then We Saw Land does a great job balancing the grandstanding gestures with their intricate folk signatures. Obviously some compositions work better than others, but for the most part this balancing act between anthemia and meticulous detail works very well. Possibly the most attractive example of this comes early on. “Don’t Look Down Or Back” has a monumental chorus complete with rasping electric guitar, and is curiously unreliant on the electronic burbles that decorated much of their earlier work. It is straight-forward rock, competent and with enough balls to warrant at least some radio play, one would hope. But what has become of all those titters and all that soundscaping that was so prevalent on their first three records? Well, it was always a matter of cramming it in, so it seemed. Songs like “Woodcat” (from their second record) were incredibly beautiful, but so busy with artificial life. Not necessarily any more or less valid than the work here, but it has naturally taken a back seat after the strange sonic caricaturing and genre experiments of Good Arrows, the album previous to …And Then We Saw Land. The technology is there as an extra instrument, not a defining element as it used to be. By stylistically streamlining themselves, Tunng have reached new creative and effective areas....full text |
| Popmatters |
| The final chorus of East London-based collective Tunng’s fourth record features the lyric “let it be beautiful when we sing the last song”, and serves partially as an indicator for what to expect from the rest of the preceding songs. Ever whimsical in their previous work, maybe even capricious, they have calmed down in many ways here, letting anthemic melodies and communal sing-alongs dominate. For many bands, this is the moment when the hardcore depart as the converts are attracted by this hot new sound. If that happens for Tunng, then the hardcore weren’t worth having anyway because And Then We Saw Land does a great job balancing the grandstanding gestures with their intricate folk signatures. Obviously some compositions work better than others, but for the most part this balancing act between anthemia and meticulous detail works very well. Possibly the most attractive example of this comes early on. “Don’t Look Down Or Back” has a monumental chorus complete with rasping electric guitar, and is curiously unreliant on the electronic burbles that decorated much of their earlier work. It is straight-forward rock, competent and with enough balls to warrant at least some radio play, one would hope. But what has become of all those titters and all that soundscaping that was so prevalent on their first three records? Well, it was always a matter of cramming it in, so it seemed. Songs like “Woodcat” (from their second record) were incredibly beautiful, but so busy with artificial life. Not necessarily any more or less valid than the work here, but it has naturally taken a back seat after the strange sonic caricaturing and genre experiments of Good Arrows, the album previous to …And Then We Saw Land. The technology is there as an extra instrument, not a defining element as it used to be. By stylistically streamlining themselves, Tunng have reached new creative and effective areas....full text |
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