On Delta Veins, Mi von Ahn turns atmosphere into its own artform

Inspired by the Rapa River Delta in northern Sweden, von Ahn's third album explores identity, relationships, and environmental change by way of trip-hop, shoegaze, and experimental folk. Lyrically, water and fire often act as symbols of destruction and renewal, while the multilingual songwriting – moving between English, Swedish, and Sámi – reinforce her themes of belonging and transition. But it's within the production that we find the backbone of von Ahn's expression. Bass-heavy drums, slowed-down breakbeats, and echoey guitar arrangements provide the foundations for when she needs space elsewhere to drift and get lost.

Opening track “Closer” establishes this approach immediately. A thumping, heartbeat-like rhythm provides the instrumental footing as von Ahn's soft vocals sneak into the track. As piano gradually enters, the music becomes increasingly all-encompassing, with her vocals now slinking somewhere between the foreground and the surrounding instrumentation. Lead single “Yet All Drifts” takes this even further, with the raw plucking and scraping of guitar strings, alongside their lingering echoes, creating the impression of something in-between a songform and a dream.

This is both the strength and weakness of the album. Delta Veins' trip-hop sensibilities naturally provide plenty of instrumental possibilities, but von Ahn's vocals are hardly ever given their full due. Tracks like “Wildfire” conjure the feeling of sitting around a fire on a crisp autumn evening, while “Delta” makes use of echoey instrumentation and wailing vocals for the listener to float adrift on. Both demonstrate von Ahn's ability to conjure a particular mood or space, but sometimes at the expense of actually hearing her.

Even so, there's an understanding of the sound and space that she's experimenting with, especially showcased in the closing track “Sway”, where von Ahn offers a final sense of movement. Its arrangement sweeps the listener away rather than attempting an emphatic resolution. It’s ‘swaying’. It is slightly on the nose.

Despite Delta Veins' melodies sometimes being swallowed by the surrounding instrumentation, what remains is an evocative, occasionally plangent collection of songs. A real mood-setter, in other words, at its most spellbinding when its competing textures pull against one another, and their strange, uneasy beauty feels both haunting and addictive.