Those with an interest in morbidity might remember Oslo’s Tulle from last year, an exponent of ‘Death-Pop’ as she calls it, one of those Nordic female singer songwriters that are a species far deadlier than the male.
The subject matter might be a little obscure but Tulle won a place on our ‘Songs of the Year’ list for ‘Can’t be saved’, one about questioning your faith while being in a state of defeat and a gothic gospel piece which carried all the hallmarks of Jenny Lewis’ wonderful ‘Rabbit Fur Coat.’
Well the crypt must have opened because she’s back with us and must have gone through some sort of transition on the road to Damascus because she is now an aficionado of ‘Apocalyptic Pop’, “inspired by folklore, horror and religious images.” Death is so passé.
Her first song of 2025 is ‘Devil and the Desert’, which she describes as being part of a larger project she will be revealing. I’m not sure you can get much bigger than Lucifer and deserts usually aren’t measured in square metres so I can only try to imagine what’s coming.
I got a little excited when I saw the title because I’ve recently been corresponding with one of those online YouTube ‘reactors’ about the Nightwish song ‘Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean’.
(As an aside, it’s possibly the most dynamic five minutes you’ll ever watch on a YT music video – check out the Live in Buenos Aires version).
And what that song is about is the Devil trying to seduce a mermaid. I wondered what tack Tulle’s song would take and it turns out it concerns “meeting an almighty force in the middle of nowhere, and securing a deal where all your dreams come true, but it will cost you your life.”
Sounds like a typical day in British politics.
Anyway, let me explain the storyline. (I had to look this up; I’m not a Mastermind contestant).
It seems that Tulle wrote the song after watching a documentary about US blues musician Robert Johnson and wondered how far people would truly go to get the things they want.
Johnson was perhaps the first of the ‘27 club’ that band of musos that met their end at that tender age, and his own demise came in 1938, allegedly murdered by poison after openly flirting with someone’s wife.
But the big story came about through several pieces of legend, when, as a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, Johnson suddenly had a tremendous desire to become a great blues musician.
And Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! – That’s just what he did. For a brief spell at least.
One of the legends says that Johnson was instructed to take his guitar to a crossroads at midnight. There he was met by a large being (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The Devil played a few songs – like devils do – and then returned the guitar to Johnson, bestowing upon him mastery of the instrument. The story of a deal with the Devil at the crossroads mirrors the legend of Faust of course. In exchange for his soul, Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.
And not long afterwards he was reunited with Beelzebub, happily ever after.
You know, that’s one hell of a subject for any artist to tackle, especially a relatively new one. If I were her manager I’d probably have advised her to copy Taylor Swift as best she can and have done with it.
Fortunately, I am not.
She wrote it wanting it to feel like a campfire song, and inspired by artists she looks up to such as Phoebe Bridgers and Ethel Cain.
For me personally, and while the Jenny Lewis faux anti-gospel vibe is there again, it reminds me of the way Melanie used to own a long song in her own inimitable, effortless style. OK, so Ms Safka didn’t sing about death or the Devil but she did write some deep songs like ‘Peace will come (according to plan)’ and in all seriousness this has the same degree of quality about it.
Perhaps Tulle is the new Melanie. But one with 666 imprinted behind her ear lobe
Musically it is mainly acoustic guitar and wonderfully enhanced by pedal steel interjections in the way that Weyes Blood does, and in fact the whole song made me think it could be a sub plot in Flannery O’Connor’s eerie pseudo religious novel ‘Wise Blood’, whence Natalie Mehring got her stage name.
The lyricism is staggeringly good. I’m not going to trot out examples here; you’ll have to listen to it yourself. She nails every word, every line, every verse.
I see Tulle has latched onto clowns now with the strapline ‘Clowns Forever’ and the flashing blood red message ‘Your silly little clown loves you.’
There’s no clowning around here, though.
This is top draw entertainment by an artist that has very quickly learned how to write winning songs.
As soon as she’s performing in Oslo I’m on that plane.
Find her on:
Website: https://www.tullemusic.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tullemusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tullemusic/
