By Bona Pjarren
One of the places that made the strongest impression on Bjørnson and Selvik during the initial research and following performances that created previous album ‘Hugsjá’ was the area of Hardanger, a few hours from their base in Bergen, Norway. The band felt that Hardanger is mysterious, pure and able to blow the minds of even the most experienced hikers and nature dwellers. It is also assumed to be the area in which the Germanic tribe of the Harudes settled in ancient times, becoming the first Western Norwegians.
The title track celebrates the history of this land being populated from both the Harudes and other peoples migrating, meeting and melting together – thus creating what we now know as Norway. The song features guest appearances by Lindy-Fay Hella (Wardruna, Lindy-Fay Hella & Dei Farne), Grutle Kjellson and Iver Sandøy (the latter two both from Enslaved).
The title track starts with some nice pulsing industrial tones almost reminiscent of horns, this introduces some beautiful vocal work from the contributors at times fusing into fantastical and spiritually uplifting harmonies. The tribal style drumming is a constant heartbeat through this wonderful piece of evocative music; it sounds like they have made extensive use of frame drums, which would be a logical choice for this type of tune. Hardanger and indeed Heim til Yggdrasil remind me a lot of Heilung and, of course, Wardruna, which isn’t surprising considering Lindy-Fay’s involvement.
Enslaved’s much loved song ‘Return to Yggdrasil’ was selected by Einar Selvik for the ‘Hugsjá’ live tour. The song fitted so well into the IB & ES tapestry that they eventually decided to invite the entire live band (Silje Solberg on Hardanger fiddle, Iver Sandøy on drums/ vocals and Håkon Vinje on piano/ vocals) to record it with them for this release. To complete the circle, the remaining two Enslaved-members joined in; Ice Dale joined on acoustic guitar while Grutle Kjellson added his signature spoken word-voice to Einar’s passionate vocals. The result, according to the band is much more than a mere cover; it is a new piece that needs to be experienced!
‘Heim Til Yggdrasil’, if memory serves, loosely translates as return to, or home to Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil is the world tree and the gallows tree that Odin was sacrificed on. The haunting and angst-ridden vocals are indeed very evocative of this and surely a nod to this legendary event. The world tree also contains the nine Nordic worlds and ‘Heim Til Yggdrasil’ feels very much like a spiritual journey between worlds. Vedfolnir was a hawk that sat in-between the eyes of an unnamed eagle at the top of the highest branch on Yggdrasil, and I feel this song is in part highly evocative of an eagle soaring high above the Norwegian landscape, particularly on the instrumental break.
The two pieces of music, ‘Hardangar’ and ‘Heim Til Yggdrasil’, are a triumph of neo-folk music. Singing in Norwegian just adds to the overall ambience of the pieces. I hope they are planning a full album as I would love to hear more from this talented duo and their friends.
- ‘Hardanger’ is released on 5 November. You can get your copy HERE.
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