According to his biography, Orouni is the name of a parasitic plant that lives in damp woods, dependent on a host tree for its nourishment. Quite what the artist behind the name is feeding on at the moment is open to question. A listen to his album, A Matter of Scale, triggers memories of early Velvet Underground brought back down to earth a bit: that drifting, almost dreamlike, narrative, this time influenced by pure nature rather than the manufactured products of it. The off-the-wall song concepts and lyrics are mercifully grounded by a minimalist backing, usually consisting only of a guitar, glockenspiel and tambourine. The singing hasn’t been over-tweaked in the production, lending it an intimate feel carried further by sporadic duets with his female counterpart. A Matter of Scale is jangly, experimental folk — promising good things for Orouni’s future and generally a tad more optimistic than Lou Reed et al could manage.

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