Style: Galician Folk, Dark Folk, Drone (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trobar de Morte, The Moon and the Nightspirit, Current 93, dark folk Agalloch
Review by: Dave
Country: Spain, Luxembourg
Release date: 9 August 2024
The last few decades have shown a resurgence and celebration of folk music traditions across the world, so much so that it even made its way into the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 with “Shum,” Go_A‘s psytrance-meets-folk rendition of a Ukrainian ritual rain dance. The modern folk scene is so rich and abundant that it effectively falls into your hands with the most cursory of searches: case in point, one quick look at the most recent dark folk releases on RateYourMusic pointed me to Sangre de Muérdago and Judasz & Nahimana‘s latest collaboration, A Ilusão da Quietude (The Illusion of Stillness). Does Ilusão awe the listener into stillness as indicated, or is the stillness simply an illusion?
Formed out of a series of collaborations between Sangre de Muérdago and Judasz & Nahimana starting in 2021, Ilusão is at its core a Galician folk release comprised of manifold string instruments such as hurdy gurdy, viola, and nyckelharpa sitting alongside electronic and industrial sounds crafted by music boxes, waterphones, and synthesizers. Ilusão is imposing in its song structures and daring in its implementation of electronic elements as it flows from extended piece to palate cleanser, with tracks “Lars Persson” and “Murmurios a Correr” offering a chance to meditate and recuperate after the extended cuts “Cantiga da Rainha das Aguas” and “Cantiga de Folhas e Agulhas,” respectively. Neofolk and dark folk are no stranger to electronic and industrial elements, as can be seen in the ethereal soundscape “Hollow Stone” from Agalloch’s The White, but whereas the intense synthetic passages of “Hollow Stone” sit in stark opposition to The White’s calmer folk moments, Ilusão shows a fierce integration of the mossy and the mechanical, melting from section to section and coalescing in grand climaxes, never losing its primal edge in the process.
Ilusão lends itself well to its earthen soundscapes thanks to its inextricable connection to folktales and mythology. Opener “Cantiga da Rainha das Aguas” (Song of the Queen of Waters) depicts an entity borne of the clouds as it journeys through the water cycle, the music flowing in tandem: the track begins with a hushed and plaintive guitar tone accompanied by soulful vocal work, gradually building in dynamics and intensity, introducing more string instrumentation as the entity falls to earth. Through the exploration of springs, streams, and rivers, the music implodes into electronic ambience, a clanking music box, and hushed whispers, finally mustering the strength to rebuild its former form as the entity is taken by the sun back to its home in the clouds. “Cantiga de Folhas e Agulhas” (Song of Leaves and Needles) follows a similar structure, though the storytelling is more impressionist and depicts the cycle of life from birth to death using vivid forest imagery, aching and glacial as mournful group vocals slowly conjure momentum before falling into an electronic abyss that resolves with a somber group vocal dirge. Closer “Murmurios a Correr” is a powerful union of organic and metallic instrumentation, interweaving subtle and eerie synthetic whines and heart-wrenching strings before being lead to an a capella group-sung close.
Projects such as these commonly take the form of splits, where each artist submits separately penned songs that contribute to a larger idea, but the nature of Ilusão’s collaboration proves itself to be different, presenting instead as a melting pot of Sangre de Muérdago’s chthonic Galician folk soundscapes and Judasz & Nahimana‘s quasi-industrial ritualistic droning and hauntingly gorgeous vocals, the end product a record neither could pen on their own. Moreover, Ilusão’s centerpieces feature uncommonly long track lengths for both artists, making it clear that their collaboration provided space for them to experiment not only instrumentally but with song structure as well: the two “Cantiga”s stretch out to sixteen minutes apiece, meditating and morphing around themselves until crumbling under their own weight, only to piece themselves back together by the end into something just as beautiful, a Galician folk analog to Japanese kintsugi crafting techniques.
Staggering in its execution and breathtaking in its prosody, A Ilusão da Quietude effuses an undeniable sadness, and yet I can’t help but feel elation among its melancholic foggy breath. It is rare that I am this immediately enthralled with such a cursory find, but Ilusão’s inventive instrumentation and soul-touching vocal work immediately floored me with its ability to evoke a strong and primal wistfulness. Ilusão is without a doubt one of the greatest folk pieces to come out this year, and I’m hopeful that Sangre de Muérdago and Judasz & Nahimana will come together in the future to grace us with more forward-thinking orchestrations.
Recommended tracks: Cantiga da Rainha das Aguas, Murmurios a Correr, Cantiga de Folhas e Agulhas
You may also like: The Visit, Musk Ox, Thragedium
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links (Sangre de Muérdago): Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | RateYourMusic
Related links (Judasz & Nahimana): Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RateYourMusic
Label: Throne Records – Bandcamp | Official Website | Facebook
Sangre de Muérdago is:
– Pablo C. Ursusson (guitars, strings)
– Georg Börner (strings, percussion)
Judasz & Nahimana is:
– Pricila da Costa (vocals, percussion)
– Angelo Mangini (synthesizer)
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