RUNIC MOON (nordic musick)

ORCHIS

A THOUSAND WINTERS


Original Issue: 1997 Cryptanthus (CYT 03 CD)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

Über-rare pagan folk muzak from one of the co-founders of the important World Serpent Distribution label

p.s. fans of The Iditarod...DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!!

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1 The Horseman (0:14)
2 Blood Of Bone (5:40)
3 Blackwaterside (3:42)
4 The Hare / Jennet (2:58)
5 Gallows Man (5:00)
6 Arcadia (4:28)
7 The Horn (0:23)
8 He Walks In Winter (6:14)
9 Magaera (3:21)
10 Winter (1:02)
11 Risen (6:13)
12 From The Iron Wood (7:49)

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from http://www.myspace.com/orchistheband:

ORCHIS is an English Dark Folk band consisting of Tracy Jeffery (who also sings with Cunnan and J Greco's SQE), Amanda Prouten and Alan Trench (Cunnan, SQE, Twelve Thousand Days (with Martyn Bates), Temple Music).

We have so far managed to release four albums to date starting in 1994 with The Dancing Sun (cryptanthus /World Serpent), which was more a collection of formative pieces than anything else, then in 1997 the concept album that was A Thousand Winters (cryptanthus / World Serpent). Mandragora (Trisol), an alchemical album based around the themes of life, death and the transmutation of the soul followed in 1999 and in 2001 Trait (a ‘best of’ released through the Russian Brudenia label).

Relocation and various tedious problems put ORCHIS on the back burner for a while whilst we buried ourselves in other projects like the busy bunnies we are; we raised our heads out of the mire again in 2007 with the ‘Other Days’ download ep via the (now sadly defunct) Woven Wheat Whispers legal folk download service...

There have been numerous compilation album appearances over the years, with some tracks turning up on the ‘Trait’ album. We like to think, as the Fairports had it, that we are Nicely Out Of Tune - there was the odd perfect take, but those were never the ones that went on the albums - rather it was the ones that kept to the True Spirit.... ORCHIS, the Ancient Kingdom of East Lindsey, 2009...

BLACK MOON (the dark side of musick)

VON TILL STEVE

IF I SHOULD FALL TO THE FIELD

Original Issue: 2002 Neurot (NR020) Buy it here!

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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1 Breathe (5:41)
2 To The Field (6:36)
3 My Work Is Done (2:45)
4 Hallowed Ground (5:15)
5 This River (5:08)
6 Running Dry (4:53)
7 The Wild Hunt (5:27)
8 Am I Born To Die (4:05)
9 Dawn (3:54)
10 The Harpy (2:28)

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from Rolling Stone:

Grandly ethereal solo efforts are rarely endowed with the kind of eerily personal magic that's cast here.

No less weighty and brash than his heavy, rich sludgework in seminal ambient metal outfit Neurosis, If I Should Fall to the Field reveals Von Till urgently searching for the past's effect on his present through the marriage of traditionally textural folk acoustics and moody, current rock orchestration.

While the exploration of aging, spirituality and universal human connectivity isn't a new exercise in songwriting, Von Till's respect for and nod towards historic American roots music is so smart, honest and engaging that it may as well be.

Rugged vocals emerge from the throat with such fluid, confessional ease that listening feels like voyeurism. Creepiest is the album's climax, "The Harpy" -- a chilling recording of Von Till's grandfather passionately reciting ancient rhyme over his grandson's somber backdrop.

Joan Hiller

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from Amazon:

grandfather's funeral... rural despair... at first i giggled at it, but when i checked the music out, i found it just about appropriate. but don't let that have you expecting some alt country drivel, this is some truly dark, poetic and evocative stuff right here.

what separates this guy from the rest of the "pack" for me (although the music IS quite original in and of itself) is that he's not some skinny and scrappy quasi-bohemian alcoholic, but rather a heavy-set and shaven dude (that somehow makes his pain more "credible" and "unique" for me) with a deep, somber, masculine croon that doesn't sound the tiniest bit forced. just a naturally powerful voice that sends shivers down your spine. he's got that "whispering in your ear at normal pitch" thing going on, for lack of a better way to describe it.

apart from that, expect slow-paced songs that consist mostly of acoustic guitars, with some distant humming sounds etc. and occasional drums. the topics are dark explorations of life, death, etc. but quite poetic, IMHO.

occasionally, the dude "let's it rip" vocally (the end of the "breathe" chorus, etc.) and that's when the shivers REALLY set it. i don't know what else to say, this stuff is so emotional, unique, dark and moving that it's almost bizarre.

screw elliott smith, this is the real deal, folks. listen on headphones, at dusk/night, alone.

p.s. and don't expect no neurosis here.

K. Goettlicher "the_last_of_the_idealists"