Mirel Wagner - When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day

Mirel Wagner

When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day

11 August 2014

Sub Pop

 

4 stars out of 5

 

 

Mirel Wagner was born in Ethiopia and raised in the Helsinki suburb of Espoo, but from listening to her music you would be forgiven for assuming she lives and sings in the deepest, darkest places in the soul of the American South of a century ago. Her tales of child killers and the unheard screams of their victims are right out a Faulkner novel. When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day is a harrowing collection of murder ballads turned inside out, told from the point of view of the murdered.

 

If you simply look at the credits without listening to the music, you might instantly believe it to be an electronica record, as it was produced by fellow Finn Sasu Ripatti, better known by his pseudonyms Vladislav Delay, Luomo, or Uusitalo, among others. However, the music is comprised only of acoustic guitar and Wagner’s haunting voice, with nary a bleep nor bloop nor snick nor boom in sight. Ripatti’s production brings out each individual string as a fully formed idea, each breath between lines as a serious statement, without ever interfering with the music.

 

The weight of Wagner’s songs is carried by her lyrics and voice—she doesn’t add even the slightest flourishes of guitar virtuosity. Only the closer “Goodnight” features anything but acoustic guitar and vocals, with a subtle piano and cello combining to rock the listener into the deep sleep of death. Wagner’s murderers and murdered might be full of pain and suffering both, but the emotion they transmit the most is love: love for the killer, love for the killed, and love for you. Accept it.

 

Reviewed by Richard Krueger