About a minute into Hearts on Hold, Corinna Repp sings "I only want one thing/to be myself again." If this is really the case, she’s gone to ludicrous lengths to conceal it. A collaboration with Joe Haege of 31knots, and multi-instrumentalists Toussant Perrault and Liza Reitz, this is a far cry from both her favoured brand of lo-fi folk and the Spoon-indebted indie rock of Haege’s band.

Here, Repp sounds bold and insistent, and is backed by regimental percussion, ‘big band’ horns and samples that could have been beamed in from 1904. Guitars are sparse, but when they do make an appearance Haege makes them count, with dissonant, jagged stabs. Though the pace stays stately when it isn’t too busy giving glacial a go, the band never feel less than urgent.

‘I Know You Now’ works brilliantly as both a lead single and an opening track, representing the ultimate Tu Fawning statement of intent. Reminiscent of Danger Mouse favourites The Shortwave Set, it’s almost like they found their original sonic blueprints, filled in the gaps, and wrote some notes in the margins. The chaotic opening minute, held together only by Repp’s vocal, gives way to an addictive, hacked-to-bits string sample which then expands into a full on blues stomp. It’s infectious, addictive and by far and away the album’s highlight.

Unfortunately, Hearts on Hold never comes close to this kind of quality again. ‘The Felt Sense’ attempts to keep pulses at the same rate, but has nothing like the same calibre of hook to hang everything on. ‘Apples’ packs a nice melodic punch, but takes far too long to get the point across. As the album progresses, tracks like ‘Hand Grenade’ and particularly ‘Lonely Nights’ rely on minimal horn arrangements that border on drone. The likes of Emeralds of Oneohtrix Point Never have taken drone to new heights this year, but it’s not the kind of thing you can just dabble in.

The problem is that although Hearts on Hold has some great ideas, there are almost too many, and the songs themselves spend so much time shape-shifting that they forget to be memorable or engaging. It’s a real shame, as the talent involved are clearly, well, talented. There is a very good album waiting to come out of this project, but, regrettably, Hearts on Hold represents a fumbled opportunity. - Duncan Vicat-Brown

MySpace | Website