Danish-Iranian polymath Soho Rezanejad is an extraordinary vocalist, with a tone and versatility that go some way beyond otherworldly and into some alien realm of expression.
Palpably unique from start to finish, Perform And Surrender paints a picture of a thrillingly idiosyncratic artist at work. On amorphous, drifting pieces such as the 12-minute Surrender, she weaves her poetic murmurings around undulating drones, nimbly bridging the divide between the abstract avantgarde and the yearning intimacy of stripped down torch songs. Bursts of distorted spoken word provide jarring contrast with the album’s mellifluous core, suggesting a spiritual debt to Laurie Anderson, while the blissful simplicity of acoustic hymn Half The Shore sounds like an out-take from the first This Mortal Coil album. The drone returns for Hera, three minutes of meditative peace and (dis)quiet, teeing up elegant closer Sleepless Solitude.