This astonishing sixteen minute EP is introduced as ”a suite of four post-apocalyptic pieces steeped in alt-folk and harsh electronics.” I can’t improve on this description save to add it is a powerful and intriguing debut release that skilfully draws the listener into a dark and immersive sonic world.
I Häxa is the brainchild of singer-songwriter and visual artist Rebecca Need-Menear (one half of electronic alt-rock duo Anavae) and producer/instrumentalist Peter Miles.
It could be listened to as four individual tracks but for the full immersive effect it should be seen and heard as the soundtrack to a brilliantly choreographed Folk Horror fever dream of a film directed by Daniel Broadley. In this we witness pagan dancers, inferno figures, tree spirits and masked forest creatures.
It’s a highly distinctive and fascinatingly original piece of work with wyrd musical and visual influences which I would say include Gazelle Twin, Björk and The Wicker Man.
Three further instalments are promised ahead of a vinyl box-set combining all four Parts and a full-length album. This is set for release in November 2024 and I’m already preparing my pre-order-
