From The Desk Of Mree: “Riceboy Sleeps” By Jónsi & Alex

Mree’s second self-produced album, Winterwell, is a passionate blend of heartfelt acoustic folk and plush electronic textures, brought to life by her rich, multi-layered vocals. Mree’s lush harmonies float in and out of the mix like perfumed clouds, drawing you into a dizzying swirl of muted colors and ambiguous emotions. Armed with a guitar and an effects pedal that allows her to loop her vocals into an ever-shifting collage of sound, Mree is able to reproduce most of the album when she plays live. The New Jersey multi-instrumentalist will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.

Mree: I feel that the works of Jónsi & Alex draw out the existence of the two worlds: the ethereal and the concrete and the complex relationship they have with each other. For instance, on “Atlas Song,” we float in unattainable utopia in their ethereal soundscape, settle back on earth as we hear the creaks of floorboards and artifacts of record players, and then we ache for the returning of the otherworld as the next track, “Indian Summer,” creeps in. Their work speaks in glossolalia—a language consisting of unknown words that hold depth by spiritual means. The music speaks not with intelligible words, but in tongues of the soul. It converses with our never-ending desire of the in-between to reveal something about ourselves—that settling in one world is, perhaps, simply not enough for us. I awoke to this album playing in my headphones one morning: certainly a magical moment.

Video after the jump.