Review Summary: Like a bridge between two worlds.
As a career grows, several challenges can face one's next step, such as embracing new territory or keeping work on same ground. And now, looking back at Anna von Hausswolff's body of work, I can see not only how much her music has evolved and personified different genres, but also how each record has always something fresh. Of course that ICONOCLASTS, her most recent album, brings new sounds as well as it's a continuity of her musical journey. For that reason, discovering her earliest output can indeed be necessary to understand Anna as a composer and how she got to her newer sound.
Released 10 years ago, The Miraculous, probably her most important entry, but not necessary her best, builds on art pop oriented Ceremony sound and also brings drone elements first explored on her first EP, Källan (Prototype), and a heavier atmosphere, as the album opens with a slow organ chord. This work can be seen as two records compiled together, its tracks are either short with a more pop vibe focused around Anna's vocals resembling previous LP's such as Stranger and Pomperipossa or long exploring massive soundscapes full of various organ layers and more complex compositions such as Come Wander With Me/Deliverance or the title track.
As a whole, it does not let down. Anna starts to show her true potencial as a singer, reaching those high notes, and as a musician able to bring together her songwriter skills with her compositional vision mainly for organ. Some elements such as the westernlike guitar licks and the soft beats return, but the overall sound expands with aggressive drums, heavy and repetitive electric guitar riffs, and a stronger emphasis on dark ambiance.
All in all, The Miraculous is like a bridge that brings the world from her previous records and also opens a path for what Anna would eventually explore. Surely has its flaws, it might feel unbalanced between tracks, but nevertheless it grows over what Anna has done until 2015. A more mature, more cerebral, more dense work that became a turning point on her career, following this up with her magnum opus, Dead Magic. On a personal note, this was my entry to her music back then and she became one of my all time favourite artists ever since.
