The Musicgoer: Sian Alice Group's Troubled, Shaken Etc.

SIAN ALICE GROUP
Troubled, Shaken Etc.
(The Social Registry)
*** (out of 5)

Think of Troubled, Shaken Etc., the second full-length album from this post-rock collective from London, England, as a hibernating bear. Its first few tracks are heavy and sleepy — too sleepy for my tastes, actually — and manage to sound both cozy and ominous at the same time, as if you’re walking through the wintry woods with a bellyful of honey. It’s atmospheric, but except for the propulsive “Close to the Ground,” not particularly interesting.

And then, around Track Seven (“First Song — Angelina”), the album wakes up with a roar. Well, maybe not a roar, but some very pretty piano arpeggios and a haunting vocal from group leader Sian Alice Ahern — you can’t quite make out the lyrics, but the longing in her voice is what matters. Why, a couple of the songs are even danceable: “Vanishing,” with its Arthur Russell-esque marimba riff, and especially “The Low Lights,” which reminds me of that sexy folk song that inspires Britt Ekland to strip naked and writhe around her bedroom in The Wicker Man. Definitely not a scene (or a song) to sleep through.