Review: Sangre de Muérdago – O Xardín

Style: Neofolk, dark folk, Galician folk (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trobar de Morte, Ulver (Kveldssanger), Wardruna, Osi and the Jupiter, The Moon and the Nightspirit
Country: Spain
Release date: 12 September 2025

After diving into more experimental ideas, artists are faced with a crossroads of sorts: do they continue down the path of the avant-garde and push themselves further outside of their comfort zone, or do they take the lessons from their experimentation and incorporate them into a more familiar sound? Galician folk quartet Sangre de Muérdago sit at this crossroads on latest release, O Xardín (The Garden): their 2024 collaboration with Judasz + Nahimana, A Ilusão da Quietude (The Illusion of Stillness), was an expansive and experimental opus that pushed the sounds of both groups to new heights. O Xardín promises a more grounded release through comparatively shorter compositions and more streamlined songwriting—will we revel in its garden of earthly delights?

A Ilusão da Quietude was a somber opus, at times outlining rainclouds over the sea in soft moonlight and at others painting the face of mortality in candlelit chiaroscuro. However, O Xardín is a new day: the sun slowly creeps above the horizon and the forest is bathed in vermillion during the slow but deliberate beginning of “A Porta” (The Door). Jostling bells and shakers are accompanied by full-bodied clarinet and droning hurdy-gurdy to establish a tone of triumph and an underlying sense of mystery. Though a contemplative air emerges on occasion, most tracks engender a sense of delicacy, jubilance, and irresistible danciness. O Xardín is compositionally streamlined in comparison to A Ilusão, but touches of progressive songwriting can be found in tricky lilting rhythms (“A Chave”, “O que Mora no Lume”, “O Transo”)¹ and the patient crescendoing of the back-to-back multi-part pieces “O Xardín” and “O Abismo” (The Abyss).

Galician cultural history runs deep in the xylem of O Xardín: “A Porta”, “O Transo”, and “O Agulla” (The Needle) all use traditional melodies as springboards for original compositions. Additionally, the record incorporates myriad folk instruments used in a wide array of contexts. Though “A Porta” and “O Abismo”, for example, use similar instrumentation and songwriting approaches, the end results are wildly different: the former is grand in its fanfare and slowly builds into a lively middle section with swirling melodic phrasing, whereas the latter stretches its drones into an endless oblivion before concluding with some of the record’s most intense and forward rhythms.

Sangre de Muérdago bring these traditional landscapes to life through Animist storytelling that feels both experiential and communal. Alongside the quartet, we roam the woods and promise reciprocity to the forest’s denizens on “A Chave”, we stop and listen to fables from a fox on “A Gralla” (The Rook), and ground ourselves in the smell of rain when facing the abyss on “O Abismo”. While a touch of mythology pokes through on O Xardín, it is understated compared to the more abstract A Ilusão, eschewing heady metaphor for simple but effective vignettes. Some of the most notable and touching lyrics are present on the title track, with lines like “Without knowing, I walked there on an autumn night / There where the Moon says: ‘Be welcome, my garden has a flower for each one of you’“² engendering coexistence with nature among a galaxy of asters. In similar form, “O que Mora no Lume” encourages contemplation on cultural history in its introductory moments: “Where do my thoughts dwell / when they listen to the songs of the ancestors? In one hand the sea / the other one on my chest / listening to the waves of my blood”.³

O Xardín’s salt-of-the-earth approach also manifests in the warmth of its compositions. “A Chave” embodies a joy in simply sharing a space with nature through gentle harmonization between guitar, nyckelharpa, and clarinet; the mysterious harmonies of “A Gralla” reflect the eternally optimistic and helpful nature of The Rook, despite being misunderstood by other creatures; and “O Xardín” begins with beautiful vocal interplay by Pablo C. Ursusson and Priscila da Costa of Judasz + Nahimana before ending with a jaunty flute solo. The key track on O Xardín, however, is “O Abismo”: beginning with jingling bells and a buzzing hurdy-gurdy, Ursusson confidently calls out into the void with extended melodic phrases. By its end, the track explodes into rapturous percussion and the hurdy-gurdy performance turns playful, making it impossible not to dance along but still maintaining a mystical atmosphere. There’s even some fun rhythmic switchups near the end of this more lively section, where the percussion drops out and the hurdy-gurdy slows down only to ramp back up to speed for a grand conclusion. Frankly, though, this concluding section feels a bit truncated, as its twisting rhythmic break primes me for another two or three minutes of dancing among the abyss.

Through prudent incorporation of their previous work’s more experimental elements, Sangre de Muérdago find an excellent balance of the traditional and the progressive on O Xardín. The pulse of Galician cultural history can be found in every track, from the use of traditional melodies to the bevy of folk instrumentation, all translated into wonderfully Animist vignettes. Like the greeting of the morning sun, the warmth and jubilance present in O Xardín’s compositions make for a refreshing and invigorating listen.

Recommended tracks: O Abismo, O Xardín, A Chave, O que Mora no Lume
You may also like: Wÿntër Ärvń, De Mannen Broeders, Nechochwen, Liljevars Brann
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Sangre de Muérdago is:
– Pablo C. Ursusson: vocals, guitars, hurdy-gurdy, percussion
– Georg “Xurxo” Börner: nyckelharpa, vocals, bells
– Saúl Nogareda: cello, vocals, bells
– Xoel López: clarinet, vocals, percussion, bells
With guests:
– Priscila da Costa: vocals, track 5

1. The Key, What Dwells in the Fire, and The Trance, respectively.^* ↩︎
2. This is a translation from Galician provided on the record’s Bandcamp page: “Sen saber fun cara aló nunha noite de outono, onde a Lúa di: ‘Sede benvidas, no meu xardín hai unha flor para cada un’” ↩︎
3. This is also translated from Galician: “¿Onde é que moran os meus pensamentos, cando escoitan as cancións dos devanceiros? Nunha man o mar, e a outra no peito, escoitando as ondas do meu sangue” ↩︎