Wovoka Gentle tease their debut album with the latest instalment – Tell ‘Em, Makoto! A gloriously unorthodox folk song from a band who allow their creativity to spill across musical boundaries with sheer theatricality.
There’s a comfort to be found in the harmonies of this London trio, whose every movement and utterance is carefully curated. Boundlessly talented, their music is allowed to exist as a raw expression; unrestricted by a single style or theme, each release to date plays out the thoughts and feelings of the moment.
Wovoka Gentle is the dynamic combination of musical polymaths Imogen and Ellie Mason and William Stokes, who each flit between numerous instruments and layer their voices as they weave a patchwork of psychedelia, folk and experimental pop. Making use of synthesizers, strings and traditional percussive elements, they initially began by writing scores on behalf of bohemian dramatic productions, before moving on to releasing their own original music through their Yellow, Red and Blue EP’s. The storytelling and operatics seems to flow throughout all that they do, and you can expect their soon to be released debut album to be no different.
Tell ‘Em, Makoto! opens with a crescendo of electric piano and harmonium before establishing it’s stripped back verse. Much like their live shows, which are played as a continuous musical evolution, the song suddenly springs to life from amongst the initial cacophony. With strong folk roots, the noodling of nylon strings combines with the fragility of William’s voice in an elegantly simple melody. Bolstered by the twins’ harmonies, the track transcends to another plane with an aggressively pitch shifted sample of American gospel queen Mahalia Jackson, which takes on an almost Tantric clarity. Slide guitar sprinkles essence of country music to the fold as Wovoka begin to scratch the surface of their deep trove of inspiration in this gloriously unorthodox composition.
Tell ‘Em, Makoto! is the latest instalment of Start Clanging Cymbals, Wovoka Gentle’s debut album, which will be released on June 7th on Nude Music.
The Empty Space Between Your Ears 