MAARJA NUUT & RUUM, ARHAI

But first we have ARHAI. Arhai have their origins in a Serbian project of the same name active between 1999 and 2008 but the current iteration is a duo that performed its first show in this very venue seven years ago. Stage left is Jovana Backovic on electronics, drum (singular!) and vocals. To Jovana’s right is Adrian Lever on hammered dulcimer and tambura, a Serbian member of the mandolin family. The combination of Backovic’s haunting electronics and astonishingly pure, soaring vocals brings to mind Fever Ray. Lever’s playing is more reminiscent of A Hawk And A Hacksaw. The combination produces something that is both timeless and thoroughly contemporary. The audience is, it has to be said, sparse but everyone I speak to is won over by Arhai’s unusual, compelling, weirdly danceable music.

Following a ten minute drone intro, it is time for the Estonian duo of MAARJA NUUT & RUUM. Like Arhai, their set combines electronics with more traditional instrumentation. Nuut’s violin would be equally at home in either the folk or classical she studied extensively before discovering the village music of pre-Soviet Estonia. Her voice is, perhaps, a touch lower and husker than Backovic. As well as singing and playing violin, Nuut also plays a keyboard and live loops both her vocals and violin.Hendrik Kaljujarv’s electronics are questing, inventive and, at times, border on the harsh bringing an almost industrial, Fuck Buttons feel to proceedings. Perhaps, surprisingly, for the most part it all gels incredibly well and it is clear that the duo are enjoying playing together. Between songs, both Nuut and Kaljujarv are quietly engaging. During the songs, the overall feeling is one of melancholia but the music is also somehow warm, welcoming and comforting. 

All in all, this was a cracking gig featuring two duos that combine folk and electronica together in new and exciting ways and the only real disappointment was that more people weren’t here.