REVIEW: Tanzana - Etched In
Something unseen is creeping, tip-toeing on the worn floorboards of Glasgow’s alternative music scene. Enigmatic, esoteric, they’re the kind of coven you might encounter while wandering alone in the woods upon the witching hour. The fairytale melodies you hear in your peripheral. The haunting harmonies that seem to lurk in your footsteps, hiding in the gaps in the treelines. Listen to them, those beings of the night. What music they make.
TANZANA live in the shadowed spaces between genres. They’re one of those bands that when someone asks you their genre, you stumble between fifteen different words, none fitting quite right. They incorporate elements of dark folk, trip-hop, even some doomy stylings, into their music that’s somewhere under the all-encompassing alt-rock umbrella. Think CHELSEA WOLFE meets FLORENCE ROAD with a splash of WITCH FEVER. They’ve had quite a year, having been on the road with experimental folk six-piece MADRA SALACH, making appearances at landmark festivals such as ArcTanGent, and now they’re set to release their debut EP Etched In.
We enter the EP to the sound of their debut single Covet, lured in with hypnotic strums and a sonorous drumbeat, Freya Talbot’s enticing siren song vocals backed by eerie almost-imperceptible whispers. Katie Hare prowls through the undergrowth with her dark bassline, underscoring the dual riffage and rhythms from guitarists Lily Findlay and Sarah Dunn, in amongst Karolina Skinderskyte’s omnipresent drums. Talbot’s vocal prowess is obvious, breathy and haunting in one moment, powerful and cathartic in the next. There’s no real question as to why this is the world’s introduction to TANZANA, both through this EP, and as their first track sent out into the world.
Following is Astar; immediately we’re hit with a very different sound. The instrumentals are textured as before, though layered with lighter rhythms, each riff an earworm that keeps the track distinct. Talbot’s dark vocals linger on the edge of rage, both complementing and contrasting the mellower rhythms. Without A Sound is an echo in Astar’s wake, that same tranquility rippling through its opening strums, disarming and lulling us into a false sense of security before it all comes crashing down on us with a hurricane of rapid-fire guitars, a drumbeat like rainfall, and gale-force vocals. "My body is not my body if I’m not making any sound," sings Talbot, a sentiment about a complicated relationship with art; pushing yourself to your limits and hitting a wall of frustration, because you know your creative outputs are a lifeblood keeping you breathing.
Pulse, Pose, Position is a standout track of TANZANA’s, occult and esoteric in its lyrical ways, and ever-shifting in its instrumental composition, constantly keeping us on our toes. There are moments where it’s almost ritualistic, repeated title chants evocative of a spell-casting or summoning, and then the guitars twist into doom metal rhythms, fuzz-soaked and frenetic. This is definitely one of the band’s most interesting tracks, never restricting itself to one form or style, shapeshifting with each passing second.
You Bite, I Bleed, is by contrast, slower and more reflective. Talbot’s vocals are light, airy at times, and the guitars are relaxed, drumbeat slow and deliberate. This is a track that takes its time, only ramping up in intensity as we reach the dramatic climax. A gut-wrenching shriek fills the air, and the instrumentals, as if wild creatures agitated by the noise, echo that hair-raising rise in emotion. Finally, we’re led into closer This Love with a rolling drumbeat, and a lengthy introduction carried by subtle guitar rhythms before the singer makes her appearance. It seems almost designed as a reprieve from the back-and-forths of intensity from the prior tracks, a slow-and-steady rise as it progresses in contrast before reaching the ultimate climax, Talbot’s fade-out vocals repeating "I’ve been waiting for you" until the guitars chug out.
Etched In is a stunner of an introduction to TANZANA that sums up everything they’re about: theatricality in their presentation, occult-tinged lyricism, vocals that shapeshift from sombre and reflective to powerhouse catharsis, and instrumentation that flits between genres like a nightbird through moonlit trees. The quintet may still have an air of mystery, but with the release of this EP, they’re surely not going to stay in those shadows for long.
Score: 9/10
Etched In will be released on 9th October 2026 via Hideous Mink Records & SO Recordings.
Words: Naomi Colliar Duff
Photos: Victoria Sykes
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