The Folk Music Thread

Vàli - "Forlatt" (2004)

The debut album from this Norwegian instrumental folk solo act presents eight tracks that consistently exude a feeling of beauty & serenity. As with other dark folk artists, I can't help but question where the darkness is as this material never comes across as anything terribly imposing. It's far more sweet & melancholic than it is dark. The execution & production job are quite stunning though with the compositions benefiting from the involvement of just the one party who clearly knows the sound that he's going for very well.

For fans of Tenhi, Musk Ox & Neun Welten.

4/5

I just went on a Fairport Convention marathon today.  Here are my ratings:

1. Fairport Convention - fun and catchy, sounds like a lot of folk albums from that era but with the healthy spirit needed to get noticed.  82

2. What We Did on Our Holidays - This boasted the spirit I was hoping to find in a classic folk rock band that the music community loves.  It has quite a few different types of beautiful songs and some incredible shared vocals between the band members.  96

3. Unhalfbricking - This is where they go for a more straightforward and traditional folk sound, rocking their instrumentals while handing full vocal duty to Sandy Denny.  This new format doesn't have quite the same originality as before, but for a traditional-stayle folk album, this features some wonderful instrumentation and a magical feel.

4. Liege and Lief - A more traditional album.  It boasts all of the strengths of the previous album with one flaw: it's a bit more drawn out for the same length range.  92

5. Full House - Even though Denny's departure was beyond unfortunate, the band largely made up for that with some beautiful and yet surprisingly poppy tunes that don't break new ground but constantly entertain.  91.

6. Angel Delight - And this is where the scars are showing.  The group is still writing pretty enjoyable tunes in the long run, but the magic seems largely missing in the first half, and the progressive aspects don't carry melody well.  72.

Ulver - "Kveldssanger" (1996)

The second album from Norwegian atmospheric/pagan black metallers Ulver saw them taking the metal world by surprise by releasing a record that was entirely made up of traditional Norwegian folk music. It was certainly enjoyable enough stuff but it wasn't necessarily what the band's existing fanbase were looking for. Despite quite enjoying them, I have to admit that I've never been as big a fan of Ulver's metal albums as most metalheads seem to be so I wasn't all that fussed & managed to enjoy "Kveldssanger" for what it is. It would go on to become the driver for the entire dark folk movement really with artists like Tenhi, Empyrium & Vàli using this release as the catlyst for their own music. Ulver's next record "Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden" is my Ulver record of choice these days (at least of those that I've heard) & "Kveldssanger" is probably the weaker of their first three but it's still definitely worth a listen for the open-minded extreme metallers out there.

For fans of Vàli, Wardruna & Sylvaine.

3.5/5