Description
Label Review.
2020 album. Also available on CD.
Our Overview.
Amalie Bruun aka Myrkur releases her third album ‘Folkesange’ which moves away from the black metal of the first two records towards a traditional folk sound journeying into the Scandinavian culture that marked her childhood. ‘Folkesange’ offers an emotional sanctuary, from the opening track “Ella” and its heartbeat, frame-drum percussion and crystalline vocals that become the grounding for a rapt, richly textured awakening, to the gentle carousel of the closing “Vinter”, with its nostalgia-steeped connotations of seasonal, snowfall-bewitched awe.
Although the album looks backward using traditional instruments throughout, such as nyckelharpa, lyre, and mandola, the album is no museum piece; it resonates in the here and now, aided by the spacious production of Heilung member and musical collaborator Christopher Juul. Cinematic yet intimate, ‘Folkesange’ exists in a state of boundless reverie, bourne by string-led drones, cyclical, elegiac rhythms and Amalie’s frictionless voice, all carrier signals for deep-rooted, ancestral memories, and associations felt on an elemental level.
An immersive experience in its own right, but also belonging to a wider, pagan folk-based renaissance that has attracted a devoted following worldwide, ‘Folkesange’ answers a need that has become ever more pressing in turbulent times. A zeroing in on a resonance that is both intrinsic and enduring, it’s a rediscovery of personal grounding, and an experience that reaches beyond culture to remind us of a shared, deeply rooted inheritance. A tuning fork that binds the personal and the universal, ‘Folkesange’ is a reminder that the most transcendent experiences are those closest to home.
Tracklisting: Ella / Fager som en Ros / Leaves of Yggdrasil / Ramund / Tor i Helheim / Svea / Harpens Kraft / Gammelkäring / House Carpenter / Reiar / Gudernes Vilje / Vinter