Vuk - The Plains (2009)

Genre: Indie,Freak-Folk,Melodramatic Popular Song,Avant-Garde,Finland
Myspace
Tracklist

1. Flint in the Pines (3:33)
2. The Arms of Spirits (4:41)
3. Red-Beard (3:19)
4. Accidental Mermaid (4:20)
5. Gramophone & Periscope (3:27)
6. Barefoot in Arizona (4:41)
7. Kiss the Assassin (4:17)
8. All My Worries (5:12)
9. The Plains (6:28)

"Vuk is a Finnish-American artist whose unique music carries sonic strains that weave themselves into a rich, colorful tapestry of experimental rock, Balkan vocal music, meticulously layered organ harmonies, exuberantly inventive instrumentation and polyrhythmic walls of Vodou percussion. Her songs explore inner, fictional landscapes sculpted by dreams, sex, trauma, death and spiritual ecstasy. Live, Vuk expands into a percussion-and-organ-driven trio, and the sound of the pump organ takes center stage next to Vuk's startling voice."

Hello, hello. I am Vuk. I'm a former one-woman band who expanded into a small orchestra a few years ago. Now, the live lineup as slowly but surely stabilized itself into a trio of song, percussion and various organs. I personally think this lineup is the best one yet. Loupine and Janne Lastumäki are utterly musical beings and two of my favorite people. I still write and arrange all of the music, but our live shows are definitely a band thing - unless I'm performing alone with my pump organ or in some other special constellation.

I draw from a wide range of influences, but I'd like to think that Vuk is more than a sum of its various sources. I've glided back and forth between deeper, murkier, experimentally musical tides, and the clearer waters of bluesily gurgling rivers. First and foremost, I seek to move and surprise my listeners. In the end, though, pleasure is all that matters. Pure pleasure is the road, and my heart is my musical compass.
--From Vuk's Myspace