The Golden Filter

Voluspa is the debut album from New York 2-piece The Golden Filter. Pulling together elements of electronica, folk, rock and of course pop, it's an ambitious record.

First track Dance Around The Fire highlights this perfectly. Opening with the grandeur of violins before sauntering into a delightful vocal, recalling Bat for Lashes, the song progresses over an ever developing beat before taking to the dance floor in a way that would delight Karen O. The vocals compliment the hypnotic tribal dance the beat persuades, and this opening 4 minutes sets the bar high for the rest of the 11 track LP.

Over the course of the record we hear a band embracing a sound that was significant during the late noughties, but while some to follow have been accused of simply following a trend, there is more on offer here. Recalling those from Goldfrapp to Chew Lips to Crystal Castles and certainly Bat for Lashes, but a Bat with more of an eye on the dance floor, the record has layers worth discovering.

Hide Me, the first single, glides along a synth heavy path arousing visions of The Faint fronted by Lykke Li. It's a decent track though by no means the highlight of the record.

It's with more listens that the multi-layered sound starts to impact and it's clear that The Golden Filter possess a vast array of influences. Solid Gold embraces a slightly more sinister sound, though still synth heavy the beat deflects to a land of nostalgia. It's at points reminiscent of Crystal Castles more poppy moments and could have indie dance floors moving healthily. Freyja's Ghost slows the pace of the album with purpose, but delightfully. And piano led Nerida's Gone even channels Martha Wainwright.

Vocally Alison Goldfrapp and Natasha Khan certainly spring to mind, but not to detrimental affect. At 50 minutes it's not a short album but if any of the above influences are of interest then this is definitely worth taking your time with. Closer Thunderbird is an excellent track suggesting !!! partying with Kath Bush. Opening with spoken word the changes in style throughout emphasises exactly what has been happening across the record as a whole and despite such ambitions the album still boasts moments of pop brilliance. It's all really rather good.