With the latest and fourth in their Secret Love series, Sonar Kollektiv digs into their collective folk and soft, singer/songwriter informed consciousness to present songs that are equally touched by late 60s folk as by contemporary acoustic ballads. There are even touches of 70s rock opera and R&B thrown into the blend. Among the most notable appearances are those from Midlake, Clara Hill's Folkwaves, Breaks Co-Op, Roebeck, Nostalgia 77, and Eva Be. What makes them stand out is that for me, they present a fresh combination of acoustic folk and modern electronic influenced sounds. Interestingly enough, several of their tracks carry the sound I identify with 70s folk, and I'm not a 70s folk fan by any means.

1. The Lawries "Sailboats"
2. Midlake "Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve mix)"
3. Clara Hill "About You"
4. Andrew Bird "Imitosis"
5. Breaks Co-Op "Duet"
6. Roebeck "Atlantic"
7. A Race Of Angels "Africa Displaced"
8. Findlay Brown "Losing The Will To Survive (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve reanimation)"
9. Choir of Young Believers "Riot"
10. Thief "Down, Down"
11. Little Dragon "Twice"
12. Kala Brese "Hide"
13. Nostalgia 77 "Little Steps"
14. Jamie Woon "Wayfaring Stranger"
15. Eva Be "She Walks Alone (feat. Pegah Ferydoni)"
16. Paul Weller "The Loved"

With Midlake's song what's interesting is the story. So often, songs don't tell stories. Instead, many are just abstract snippets of dreamlike scenes, written down, chopped up and looped for everyone to interpret, when in truth, I'm not even sure the writer understands what they mean. Not so with Midlake's "Roscoe (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve mix)". You might find yourself asking yourself "am I really listening to a song about mountaineers right now, and liking it?" I suppose it's the simple honesty of the lyrics and sound that are so compelling.

Clara Hill's "About You" is a duet with Thief that was plucked off her latest full-length "Clara Hill's Folkwaves: Sideways". If Clara's voice, paired with Thief's soft falsetto isn't enough to get your attention, Secret Love is not your cup of tea.

Though you might expect a band named Breaks Co-Op to be some sort of urban, all-star super-group formed by a rotating gang of pro-organic vegans, you'll find they are an Auckland, New Zealand born trio that isn't anything near as flashy as all that. Their song here is titled "Duet" and it comes off their full-length The Sound Inside. If you haven't listened to it yet, you really have to treat yourself. It may not resonate on every single song, but you're certain to fall in love. Much the same as fellow Kiwi's Fat Freddy's Drop, their album went double-platinum in their home country last year.

Roebeck, the work of Londoner's Brett Booth and Luke Carradine is kind of all over the map when it comes to their sound in general, but with "Atlantic" they've distilled its finest essence into an acoustic backed lounge piece informed by mellow break beat and soul. They made an excellent decision when choosing Eliza Wren Payne to provide the necessarily sweet and happily floating vocals.

There isn't much that needs to be said about Ben Lamdin I suppose. Best known as Nostalgia 77, he's been working his sound out through Tru Thoughts since 2002 and gained no small pool of admirers of his sound. "Little Steps" is a song off the album Everything Under The Sun and if you skipped from Roebeck's track to this one, you'd be in a sugar induced coma of lounged out bliss. Lizzy Parks provides the voice here and her tone is a perfect match to the dusty bass and mellow break beats. It's nearly magical to hear her duet with the horn. So simple, but so necessarily lush.

The last notable track to speak of is Eva Be's "She Walks Alone". What you'll find here is the "secret Lover" remix, and it's basically an unplugged, acoustic version of what you'll hear on her album Moving Without Traveling. Pegah Ferydoni provides the vocals on this one, and although she's a Berliner of Iranian descent, Pegah gives the song an almost dusty country feel. While I found the instrumentation on the album version to be amazing, I'm equally into this stripped down version. The guitar plucking makes sure you don't forget that Eva Be has a solid influence from electronic music. This is just a damn enjoyable song.

Though one persons love is another's displeasure, a secret is a secret, but of course there is no reason any of these songs should be. This series has a primary focus on modern, electronic influenced folk music, but there's a lot more to it. Give the tracks mentioned here a listen and you'll find the love.

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Originally released in Europe on Oct. 8, 2007

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