There was a period when American Indian influenced, ambient wave music had its day, even over here with Layo and Bushwacka. By the way, that latter moniker had Aussie overtones.
The result was a harmonic mix … I hesitate to call it “melodic”, though it is … nor call it gentle, though this track below is gentle … it can be quite harsh, this genre, yet harmonic … the second track is loud and harsh, yet quite harmonic all the same. I listened to a song by someone called Rush … harsh, atonal, some girl screaming into a mic, backed by frantic guitars … it set the tone for the dysfunctional, atonal 70s.
And getting religious here … the American Indian spirits are part of a spirituality without God, e.g. paganism, wicca, all the rest … Aztec … and in simple Christianity, if it does not derive from good, then it must derive from the other side. Enigma, Deep Forest and similar were popular back then … they dropped hints all over the place … “sad, sad daemon” was one line. If you walk in defenceless, you get got, just like the Wokerati.
The first song below is a reworking of the ancient British Isles ballad about an occult spirit moving smoothly, not stepping, not treading, through a fair, having told her “love” that their wedding day would be soon. She then noiselessly moved through the fair and out over the lake. Of course, it was obvious what would happen soon to the young man.
The singer, Deborah Blando, had quite a career at that time, 2001 … possibly the latest song I’ve run here.
That ancient song, about a specific incident in Britain eons ago, is still quite pervasive, like Tam Lyn.
The second song below is harsh … be prepared for that. It was part of the attempt in the 90s to create again, as in the early 70s … and it lasted mainly until 1997, when the music died one last time. The genre is “noise pop” or shoe gazing … very loud, yet harmonic and restrained, even shy … two major groups were Pale Saints and Mazzy Star … I was in a mini-Renaissance myself through my student girls of the time. Some interesting songs, still creative.
This below starts and ends gently with organ, what would have been lead guitar becomes instead a rhythmic wall of sound, a la Phil Spector, the lead instrument is the bass … unusual … and the vocals are almost “choirboy” … much thought went into the juxtaposition. Loud, harsh, but melodic, always harmonic, never quite atonal.