As Above, so Below - EP

Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor take another break from their reputable solo careers, and their voices immediately click in that magical way that made 2002's Burn and Shiver and 2003's Hold On Love such graceful releases. The duo scouts out new musical terrain with this six-song EP, discovering the joys of electronic instruments and mechanized beats. There's still plenty of human touch here, but it's tucked in with warm, gurgling synths, as the stunning "Unannounced" illustrates with reversed musical lines and a rhythm that threatens to fall apart as it stutters to its end. "To This Life" scrapes past with a grungy trip-hop beat that complements ominous lo-fi, Portishead-like keyboard sounds and angelic vocals. The piano-based "The Heart Has Its Reasons," the EP's one track where an acoustic instrument is at the center, offers a sense of wistful times. For "We Can Wake," the piano is again joined by rustling beats that take the progress of the duo's 2010's album, Drawing Down the Moon, into a new realm.