Enofa - Small Modernist House in Woodland Setting

Released: August 14

The most succinct and accurate way to describe the latest album from Enofa is contrasting. Throughout its more than 80 minute runtime, everything feels like a contrast; a sitar among the sounds of the English countryside, a hammer striking processed wood as ghostly vocalizations emanate from amplified environmental noises, gently plucked strings over a ramshackle assortment of improvised percussion. Even the title itself presents a stark contrast as the hard and defined angular nature of the modernist architecture crashes against the backdrop of a sprawling woodland. Utilizing this framework of contrast between straight and unnatural lines against the impossibility of such an occurrence in nature, we are thrown into an expansive and ever unfolding scene of elements that would not coincide without a conscious decision to do so.   

There’s a moment on the fifth track of this album, “Lovely Old Tree,” near the very end that gives insight into the creative impulses present during its yearslong creation. For most of this piece, there’s an almost whimsical medieval theme. Ploddingly plucked strings, faint and echoey simple drums, and a vocal resembling a chant of sorts; it’s a rather interesting theme that feels oddly at home among the mythical and folklore inspired sound palette. But at the end, it suddenly devolves into chaos as large creaky doors open, unclear sentence fragments come in and the whole piece takes on the aesthtic of a radio rapidly switching stations and a CD skipping hopelessly. Even then, the following track “Creatures of Beauty” opens up with a smooth melody played on an electric piano to show contrast even to the chaos. 

The album has this sense of being a bit of a horror movie while very clearly not being a horror movie. There are some moments, mostly later on in the album that signal to this. “Slate” begins very much in the realm of suspenseful but never amounts to a truly uneasy or uncomfortable motif while its following track, “Natural Scaffolding” comes across ads something of a more mythical nature without any sense of menace. The album plays around heavily with an aura of mythology and folklore, but never outright admits to it. Instead, it consistently implies a sense of the supernatural or mythology through careful sound choices and creative arrangements, all while being quick to riff on those themes to the point of creatively undermining them.