Style: Folk, acoustic
Primary Emotions/Themes: Norwegian mythology
Thoughts: How do you approach albums from your favorite band? How do you convey the deep feelings that come from each entry into their discography?
Ulver is beyond a shadow of a doubt my favorite band. To this point I've barely covered them and their extensive discography. That is going to be changing over the next few posts. This series is the only entries that I've had planned since the very beginning of this blog, and I intend to use this time to its fullest.
Kveldssanger - the songs of the evening - is Ulver's acoustic work between their only two black metal albums. The first three albums make up what the band refers to as The Trilogie. Each one of these albums revolves around Norwegian folklore and mythos. This one in particular features the band at their most tranquil.
Acoustic guitars, cello, clean vocals, and other instruments are used to portray the intense tranquility that this album brings. Most of the album is instrumental, but every now and then Garm's clean vocals will be used. These are not the same cleans that are used on the debut, these are much deeper - a bit less refined - a bit rawer.
One of the albums greatest strengths is it allows the instruments to breathe. It's mostly minimalist in its approach, only a few instruments playing at any given time. The production is similarly minimal, it allows for the instruments to expand naturally and never tries to make things more than they are. The music's simplicity is the primary focus here.
It's at this point where words start to fail me. I've written the conclusion here about seven to eight times but I ended up purging it because it didn't convey my feelings adequately. I'm going to leave it at this: this album is excellent and is worth an in depth listen. It's not Ulver's best, but it does convey what they are capable of, even when they were young.
Written January 15th 2024
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