THE TANIA AND JORI CONTINENTS – CONTINENT ONE

THE TANIA AND JORI CONTINENTS – CONTINENT ONE

The Tania and Jori Continents is the unlikely collaboration between Tania Bowers and Jori Hulkonnen. Bowers – better known as Australian-American singer-songwriter Via Tania – initially got into contact with Hulkonnen after hearing his remix of The Presets This Boy’s In Love. The clean techno-house grooves on this reworking by the Scandinavian producer may seem worlds apart from Via Tania’s style, which is more reminiscent of Sarah Blasko or Sia than Röyksopp or Trentemøller. However, the collaboration has a lot of great potential – possibly through injecting the soulful songwriting skills of Via Tania with the powerful sonic palate that Hulkonnen can muster, and thus combining the best of both musical worlds. This hasn’t quite been realised, though. Hulkonnen’s production is often relentless and overwhelming – a murky world of similar-sounding synthesizers which overbear most tracks on the album. Together with Bowers’ echo-drenched vocals, the overall result is an effects-laden wall of sound. This wouldn’t be a problem if so many of the tracks weren’t so identical. The plodding monotony is broken up mid-album by the intriguing flute sounds on Your Bones, but this is a rare instance. There is certainly a market for this style of music – The Knife are a comparable Swedish duo, although their music is far more dynamic and enjoyable. You would be advised to listen to them instead – the far less cumbersome name should be more than enough to convince you.

** ½

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