[Reviewed by: stark]
I have to make a confession. I’ve always preferred Russian neofolk over the German branch of the genre. The musicians from Russia – as a matter of fact, not only from Russia, but from all the Republics of former Soviet Union – have this unique ability to musically recreate the pagan spirit, to paint the melancholic picture of the beauty of Nature. This refers also to their ambient or even black metal bands. And the language… I’ve always suffered when I heard a nice tune from a Russian musician sang in English.
Therefore I was pretty curious when I put this CD into my player. The name and the titles are written in Cyrillic, the cover with skull and flowers is like taken from a book with fairy tales. The band’s name is Люди На Холме (Lyudi Na Holme). They come from Murmansk and it seems that “Дикие Цветы” (“Dikie Kvety”) is their third full release.
And the fairy tale benchmark seems to be valid in this case. Can’t say much about the lyrics, but the music reminds me more about the medieval fantasy stories rather than glorification of Nature as the highest deity. Excluding the Russian male and female vocals, this is something you could expect in, say, a tavern in Skyrim where you stay for the night after wandering through forest all day long. These are well played songs, filled with nice melodies, but I feel the “folk” aspect itself has a rather universal character and if you forget the language it could be soundtrack for any fantasy story, no matter or if of Eastern or Western flavor.
But don’t get me wrong, I quite like the album. It is skillfully performed and arranged, with beautiful sung parts. Rather relaxing music, I have to say, without any dark connotation, but with a sweet nostalgic touch.
Lyudi Na Holme – Dikie Kvety
COD noizes, SHUM35
CD/LP/Digital 2021
Santa Sangre 