FOREST

I was really charmed by this bunch of guys crafting up some "raw songs of the earth", as described on the album liner notes. Their sound texture builds up from layers of acoustic guitars, mandolins, flutes and male vocals on both choral harmonies and melodic solo patterns. There are some subtle keyboards breaking up the purist medieval instrumentation, and also some lyrics are not following the ancient themes. This does not ruin the wholeness in my opinion, but makes it more fuzzy and surreal reflector of its time; There are small doses of psychedelia included in this soup, I believe. Though the music is built from simple elements, the guys have managed to fill their wailing tunes with very strong emotions, and I'm receptive to this kind of approach. All of the compositions are quite good in my opinion, but the best song of them all is "A Glade Somewhere", a really shameless crying after a woman presented in a form of powerful harmonics and melodies, making up a really pretty piece of music. The cover picture of this album presents the music it conceals perfectly. Raw color drawings fit with the basic instrumentations accessible to anybody, and the image is full of mystery and glorification of the ancient days. I bought myself a nice vinyl reissue pressed by "Radioactive", and one can also find a pic of minstrels gettin' high in ye glade within the heart of gatefold sleeve. You can surely flavor your nights of rustic aesthetics with this record, and it is thus highly recommended.