SVER - Fryd
Folk Hall Records FHR001CD
There are a couple of outstanding fiddlers in this Swedish/Norwegian group: you may have come across Olav Mjelva and Anders Hall as solo musicians, or in the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc with Shetlander Kevin Henderson. Here they play something closer to folk rock - thumping drum kit and guitar behind most tracks. Sver aren't heavy rock - and from the CD cover it's plain that they aren't glam rock either. Nor is it all four-four and straight eight - the rhythms of Scandinavian dance music come through strongly on Ruf and Fuggeln. Some tracks are more folky, like the accordion-led Falsk Vals and the driving fiddle breakdown, Mysoxen, which has surprisingly little to do with knitted footwear.
The two English titles, Total Carnage and Bow In The Eye, are pretty self explanatory. Both are full-on stomps, the first inspired by the Shetland Folk Festival and the second by a long and painful experience. The title track and the mystic Sumarkveld i Nivlheim are varied takes on folk rock from this very flexible band. There's no shortage of fiddle wizardry on Fyrd and Sver keep the excitement level high, all the way to the final slow piece Sova. With a few seconds' pause before it, this track is rather different from the rest of the album - quieter, more contemplative, simply beautiful on box and fiddle. The arrangement, like all Sver's music, is imaginative and entertaining. With excellent musicianship and a great sense of fun, this album is hard to fault.
www.sverfolk.com
Alex Monaghan
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 109 of The Living Tradition magazine. |