Rose Keeler Schaffeler is probably best known by the alias Keel Her, which she assumed in 2012 to release smart collections of Sarah Records-like indie rock. 2019’s “With Kindness” saw Schaffeler move more toward electronica, while the single, “Surrender Rah”, a collaboration with producer Daniel O’Sullivan, is a brilliant hit / bit of post-punk dub. Last year O’Sullivan and Schaffeler contributed a set of voice-based pieces to the Standard Music Library, and their new album, “Universal Language” expands on these sounds and ideas. 

Inspired by her infant son’s first attempts at communication, Schaffeler created compositions centred around wordless, vocal arrangements. Here, angelic, ethereal, multi-tracked choirs sing sweetly, somewhere between hymn and lullaby. There’s a choral complexity fashioned from interwoven layers. Overlapping refrains and phrases. O’Sullivan’s accompaniment, of synthetic drones and tape manipulations, is totally sympathetic and largely unobtrusive. 

“Two Hearts” conjures comparisons with Clare Hamill’s Andrew Weatherall-sampled “Tides”, and also Donato Dozzy and Anna Caragnano’s “Sintetizzatrice”. The loud, proud exclamations of “Life Selection Room” summon the slow, stately ceremony of Enya. “Wings On Waves”, a duet between Schaffeler and O’Sullivan, sorta merges The Melodians’ spiritual “By The Rivers Of Babylon” with Rare Silk’s otherworldly, Sci-Fi jazz / do-wop. The soft, reassuring sighs of “Second Nature” reach for West Coast / Beach Boys’ like highs. “Baby Creature” is a strange, squawking dance. Theatrical, operatic and recalling Roberto Simone’s “Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie”. “Fear And Its Disciples” has something in common with Tom Waits’ collaged, junk yard stomps. The references ranging from medieval madrigals to modern pop. The harmonies tapping into something, ancient, timeless, at Western music’s root.

Rose Keeler Schaffeler’s “Universal Language” can be ordered directly from Magic Hollow.