About

The young Danish/Scottish singer/songwriter Clarissa Connelly presents World of Work - her stunning debut album for Warp. After winning the prestigious Hyundai Nordic Music Prize with an album rooted in choral electronic composition, World of Work takes inspiration from Hildegaard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila & Georges Bataille, to create a widescreen work of alt rock and apres folk. — (via Label)

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‘There is magic in the world. There’s something bigger’: the ecstatic visions of musician Clarissa Connelly.

Her debut album for Warp, World of Work is a beguiling mix of the folk songs of Connelly’s youth in Fife, a formative love of Enya and the avant garde sensibility she honed at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, where she studied alongside the breakout stars Erika de Casier, ML Buch and Astrid Sonne. Connelly’s voice is a clarion force; her blend of the ancient and the avant garde might recall Kate Bush circa The Sensual World, or Perfume Genius’s uncanny balladry. — (via The Guardian)

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Clarissa Connelly possesses the kind of voice that is rare to hear in our current musical landscape. It’s entirely idiosyncratic, warm and pastoral, carrying with it years of history and energy. Its richness evokes a bygone era when women sang to each other as they worked, and in its darker moments, Connelly’s voice could easily soundtrack a folk horror movie.

Like Adrienne Lenker and Jessica Pratt, modern folk artists with incredibly distinctive voices are a vital part of the genre, captivating us with their ability to take us into their own world, which is defined by their total uniqueness. Their voices almost seem to exist as entities of their own, and as Connelly’s voice bends, warps and floats between highs and lows, you can’t help but feel as though they’ve whisked you away with them in the process.

With World of Work, Connelly, a Scottish-born singer who has spent a large chunk of her life in Denmark, crafts an experimental tapestry that encourages us to fully submerge ourselves in its mythic atmosphere, full of brooding guitars and layered vocals. The album is poetic, deeply reflective, and meditative, exploring the different facets of life that often come to blow with each other. Even the tracklist reads like a poem; nothing here is out of place. Connelly has made a striking collection of songs that feels completely cohesive and full of life. 

For listeners who are slightly more unfamiliar with experimental folk, you might need to give World of Work a few listeners for it to click. It’s hardly the most accessible piece of work, but once you really sit with it, you cannot escape how human it is, with Connelly’s unrestrained vocals (particularly on ‘Wee Rosebud’) tapping into something primal that feels innate to the experience of living. — (via Far Out Magazine)

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Label: Warp Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2024
Genre: Electronic, Folk
Style: Experimental, Folk, Female Vocals

File under: Global sounds
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