Unsigned + Free Music: Tanya Auclair

We’re officially late to join the party. Tanya Auclair, an alternative and unsigned soul singer from London, released her debut EP Thrum on July 20 and we only found out about it last week.

Another artist taking the bold move of giving away their first record free, this is most likely the best freebie you’ll be laying your hands on in 2010. With influences stretching to include PJ Harvey, Beck, Fever Ray, Fela, TV on the Radio and underground LA soulstress Georgia Anne Muldrow, Thrum's make-up already promises to be everything but your average retro-slinging soulscapade that has been wrapping its vines around the charts over the past couple of years.



With heavy drums, buzzing synths or country-bounce ukelele rhythms, Thrum is an off-kilter mixture. Sometimes popsical whimsy like ‘Yank My Chain’, overwhelming atmosphere in ‘Closer’ or the wonky folk music of ‘Tight Little Fingers’. But always at the forefront are Auclair’s stunning vocals, that get put to good use as part of the Goldsmiths Ensemble, singing in the choir for Alice Russell and currently supporting producer Yult on their highly-anticipated EP The Animal Inside. And it’s graceful electro tracks like the one in the video below that are causing all the excitement: