Eivør, a celebrated determine at the Faroe Islands’ track scene, has launched 10 albums independently sooner than Enn, the constant high quality of which used to be recognised when she used to be awarded the Nordic Council Track Prize in 2021. Over that point she has bridged gaps between electronica, folks and classical track, whilst additionally, as on 2020’s Segl, making a song extra in English than Faroese.
On her debut for metal-oriented label Season Of Mist, although, Eivør will depend on making a song in Faroese, and leans into a mode that, whilst from time to time getting heavy on us, faintly echoes the windswept, widescreen symphonic metallic vibe of a few of her Nordic contemporaries.
It’s a richly atmospheric affair from the beginning. There’s a meditative high quality to the opener Ein Klota (‘A Planet’) because it wistfully inspires ‘a planet unanchored/Drifting with out me.’
That quote comes from an English translation of the lyrics Eivør co-wrote with Faroese poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs. It’s been made to be had on-line, which provides an additional resonance to those songs – however they slightly want recognisable phrase shapes to grip the heartstrings.
Eivør’s flexible vocals are some other key asset, veering from Liz Fraser-style contralto to falsetto keening and soprano pomp
Hugsi Bert Um Teg (‘Nonetheless Simply You’) is a story of love-lorn insomnia, and it sounds find it irresistible way; the lyrics translate as arresting – but nonetheless rhyming – couplets reminiscent of ‘A homeless craving seeps beneath my bolted door/Fills the silence, again for extra.’
Eivør’s flexible vocals are some other key asset, veering from Liz Fraser-style contralto to falsetto keening and soprano pomp. The emotional have an effect on is enhanced by way of elegantly organized orchestral accompaniment – however there are conventional pop tips at paintings too, as easy piano figures framed inside of descending chord progressions recur on Purpurhjarta (‘Crimson Middle’).
They’re regularly joined by way of a rising symphonic swell as Eivør’s voice ultimately reaches for Kate Bush-level upper registers as a an identical story of romantic longing unfolds.
Her penchant for various aesthetic textures continues to be in proof. Identify monitor Enn (‘Nonetheless’) unfolds at the again of brooding techno locomotion as she gazes anxiously into the abyss. She delves deep right into a darker musical smartly, summoning the doom metallic gods on Upp Ur Oskuni (‘Upward thrust From The Ashes’), the place, in a whisper-growling voice, she addresses us menacingly as though her eyes have simply flashed inexperienced and her emotional longing has ended in complete ownership by way of otherworldly forces.
That’s an outlier inside of Enn as an entire, as mirrored within the songs both sides of it: the Bel Canto-esque Livsandin and the sweetly hymnal Gaia. That’s the place the overarching melancholic, imploring really feel of the album returns to near an enchanting revel in.
Enn is on sale now.
