Neo-Folk review page

Beta-Lactam Ring Rec.

Whitelodge (US,2005)**°

White Lodge start on this album with a neo-folk style comparable with some UK and German/Austrian groups mostly. There’s lots of gothic piano and doomy dark sphere keyboards hanging around a few chords of movements of amplified guitar with over-sad vocals. This creates a slightly tiring night mood. An instrument like fender Rhodes of course adds an extra moody aspect, without at first bringing us really out of the doom very easily. With this are some attempts of making it musically a bit more interesting, with moody passages, like on "White Fountain" or like the differently arranged "Song for Kalyx", a track beautifully carried by slow fender rhodes, or with some partial improvisations, but most of this is until this slow change, like most gothic and neo-folk, all done relatively simple and without uplifting the energy much. At the point where the music thoroughly evolved to "My Passing Through the Golden Apex" I begin to like the group much better. Here the fender rhodes, bass, acoustic and electric guitar create a nice spherical continuity bed for the whispery vocals. This approach of creativity is continued in "Father Time", a track which goes a bit in the direction of Legendary Pinkdots. The mood like this becomes freer with its calm water fender rhodes wrinkling its music. On "They are seven" the musicality is experimental, ambient and pulsating, like colors on a magical painting. Especially the song "Vision" and perhaps "The Emperor's Orchid" are mixed and produced well too to give a more enjoyable effect for listening pleasure. Also the last track, "Illumination of the sylph" with different and more interesting sounds and arrangements, I like better. It's a track which goes a bit further in the direction of Legendary Pinkdots and Use Of Ashes, which I personally find very positive.

In general the Whitelodge is an album still leaves me with an ambivalent feeling ; there are still moments I appreciate better than others, even when in general it is rather enjoyable.

Audio : "Masters Within Spaces", "Down the Ladder of Lights, Towards the Gate of Erim", "Of Corridors and Time", "White Fountain", "The Unbroken Circle", "The Last House", "Song for Kalyx", "My Passing Through the Golden Apex", "Father Time"

Info : http://www.blrrecords.com/display.php?ino=281

Other listing : http://www.midheaven.com/artists/whitelodge.html

Other review : http://tonevendor.com/item/18842 & (with 3 more audio files) : http://www.brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2050&Itemid=64

Ten to One Rec.

Joolie Wood : Tales of Colour and White (4track EP) (UK,2006)****

After many years as collaborator with Current 93 mostly, and as a guest with various other groups I think it is about time Joolie Wood shows her own visions in a solo work. This is a 4-track EP, which gives me the impression there's more in the pipeline that deserves to be revealed, hopefully in a future full-length release. First instrumental, "Jewel Song", is like a miniature or a small jewel, and is a beautiful instrumental introduction built upon vibrating harmoniously welding sounds mixed with guitar, harp and violin : a rich world on its own revealed in only two minutes, as if Alice shows her Wonderland. "You own the Universe" features the nice picking from Simon Finn, and some simple butterly glimpses of piano by Maja Elliot, and some spring time flute by Joolie, a happy-sad beautiful song. "Where all the flowers grow" with second male narration by Karl Blake reminds a bit of Current 93 (during 'Earth covers Earth', where the the group wanted to create their own "Second Utterage" to Comus), which has a similar sadness in combination with a joyful wish for hapiness. On the last track, "Melt in the Snow" Karl Blake plays two small parts of "very electric guitar". It is a kind of revealing and descriptive psychfolk track, with a bit of improvisation into the mood. The cooperation between the musicians works beautifully as a group. 4 tracks only are a bit short and make a wish for more. Recommended !

Joolie composes, sings and plays samples, harp, organ, violin, recorder, melodica on this release. Participants here are Simon Finn (guitar on two of four tracks), Karl Blake, vocals and electric guitar, Maja Elliot, piano on three tracks, and Baby Dee with harp on the last track (which I did not notice). Joolie has played and written tunes for the past 16 years with Current 93. She also plays and record more often with Simon Finn and occassionally plays with Sundial. She contributed with many many more artists. She was also to be found on the new Castro album.

Homepage (with one track from the EP) : http://www.myspace.com/jooliewood

Current 93 collaborations : http://www.hitthaler.force9.co.uk/c93/people/f_jw.htm

Other reviews : http://www.funprox.com/index.php/reviews/2006_05/joolie-wood-tales-of-colour-and-white/

More links :

Simon Finn reviews on http://singersong.homestead.com/reviews.html#anchor_43

Baby Dee's release I hope to find and review soon

Info : http://www.babydee.org/ & http://www.myspace.com/theonlybabydee

Ahnstern Svarrogh : Balkan Rennaissance (BG,2007)°'

Dark gothic music with spoken word and certain folkloristic elements...not really my cup of tea, because it is too dark for my taste, but I like to mention the album. Koen Birds made a review :

"Svarrogh is a Bulgarian post folk record. Apart from the traditional eastern European instruments we can hear Goth and black metal influences. The record is dedicated to the spirits of nature and the holy earth water Yer Su. Listening to it makes someone fantasize of secret rituals by a brook in a deep dark forest (long black shrouds and sinister chants included). If you’re into this kind of experience, Svarrogh offers you in an imaginable way the Hail-Wotan-Full-Moon-Party of a life time. Invitees digging good music might get disappointed though. Most of the tracks are built around too many doomfolk-goth-clichés like the obvious eerie synths, voices from the grave and shaman on percussion shakin’ ‘m all down. Musically this is a bit pathetic and therefore not very interesting. But again, the ideal soundtrack for a sabbath in the very, very dark." Koen Birds

Audio : "The Gun Of Cherry-Tree", "Edelweiss", "Shepherds Under Birches", "A Girl Is Braiding Blonde Hair"

Homepage : http://www.svarrogh.com/ & with audio : http://www.myspace.com/svarrogh

Info : http://metal-archives.com/band.php?id=13189

Label info on http://www.steinklang-records.at/...

Other review : http://fair-musicbox.nnm.ru/svarrogh_balkan_renaissance

Little Somebody Rec. A.Lixivia (F,2007)***'

To some degree A.Lixivia would fit well as a French spoken version with groups like Sol Invictus or Fire and Ice. With a fundament of acoustic and mostly strummed guitars and handrums mixed with some keyboards, and some textures of a few other instruments (trumpet, violin, bird,..), minor chords develop various neo-folk spheres, like moody and dwelling excursions. Original is “Le Plus somptueux” for the use of a melancholic telephone toned keyboard combined with acoustic guitars and tambourine. The texts recall evocations about what we are and what we are not, when governed by rules of wars.

Audio and info : http://myspace.com/lixivia

Label : http://www.myspace.com/littlesomebody

Heidenvolk In Ruin : A Ghost to be forgotten (US,rec.2004-2007)**'

I found it a bit harder to understand how and why some bands in the US (Chicago area) would perform in a neofolk style close to certain German examples, (I mean, without the grown this way communal association), but especially also English examples, it must have been especially a style preference that must have created this, with a personality association. The band told me they liked groups like Death In June, Current 93, and listened a lot to Sol Invictus and Strength Through Joy and some newer Ulver when working on this album. Combined with an interest in runes, Nordic beliefs and Paganism, and this combined with their emotions gave them a working field for their personal expressions.

From some of the mentioned examples are moody background keyboards, sad simple neofolk guitar pickings, with a bit of cello, already on the first couple tracks which are sung with certain emotional needs for these expression but not necessary sung too brilliantly with this and mixed backwards by the music, confirming a rather grey mood. One song, recited in German by Henryck Vogel (Darkwood), and with the fresh sounds of his bass guitar, must have been recorded by the label in Dresden, Germany. Not all the tracks rely to the neofolk styles (“Cold Comfort” is slowrockier for instance with its guitars and drums). Some arrangements remain to have flavours of Gothic-chamber arrangements, elsewhere guitars with wave-gothic keyboards dominated, (evolving up to certain Ulver influences perhaps).

I noticed that one of the songs seemed to be a traditional (“Let us kiss and part”). Another traditional, “Follow thy sunne unhappy Shaddowe”, was inspired on the version by Of The Wand & The Moon.

In Ruin is Terry Collia on acoustic guitar, bells, electric guitar, synth, vovals and Alex Hathaway on bass guitar, electric guitar, flute, piano, programming,

with the help of Isaac Aubrey on backing vocals; Timothy Bunch on percussion; Catoniumon soundscapes ; Kim Larsen on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, chimes, electric guitar ; Nadja : cello ; Valentin : violin ; Henryck Vogel : bass guitar, cymbals, spoken word.

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/inruinneofolk

Descriptions on http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20080215064237231

& http://www.steinklang-records.at/shop/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=2268

Label info : http://www.heidenvolk.de/hv11.html

Other reviews : http://www.metalhead.ro/forum/index.php?topic=4932.msg207583

Ahnstern Défilé Des Armes : Lust 'n' Stone (GR,2008)**'

Défilé Des Armes uses the whole range of elements used before in association with neofolk with the advantage of having a cello as a steady instrument. The cello arrangements with guitar provide minimal chamber-like arrangements, like funeral-music, sometimes with marching drum accents, spoken words and song. But there is an occasional more uplifted mood too, with flute/bodhran improvisation (4), or with Greek mandolin (8, the song dedicated to Ataraxia), the only track from which I can sense they are from Greece. We could also hear twice some element of klezmer-like sadness of improvisations on clarinet. Also occasional is electric guitar and such, that drive into a different darkness of psychedelic chamber-industrial rock power.

Audio : "Mushrooms", "My Middle Name", "Under The Spell"

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/defiledesames

& at http://www.steinklang-records.at/..

(Same descriptions at http://projekt.com/product.asp?sku=AHN00032

or http://www.coldmeat.se/mailorderitem.asp?id=2516)

Homepage : http://www.defiledesames.com/