Album Review: Ela Stiles - Ela Stiles

Songs and Bushwalking paragon Ela Stiles adds another deceptive and beguiling string to her bow with her self-titled debut. Stiles has chosen the a cappella route, but the result is nothing like you'd expect. It's an album of halves, with the 'A-side' made up of tiny sonic vignettes (only two tracks exceed two minutes) that are steeped in Celtic folk and Eastern tabla traditions, whilst the 'B-side' consists of one 11-minute track, a dronal sphere of coalescing, overlapping choral manipulations. And it works – Stiles' voice is at once bewitching, seductive, tremulous and powerful.