Sound Of The Day : Völur

I’m not exactly sure what’s happened in the past few months, but I’ve discovered hardly anything darkly brilliant enough to indulge my senses in. That was until I came across Völur today, after a brief visit to YouTube to see if they had anything in the way of offerings.

Their folk inspired doom is so Scandinavian in its sound that my immediate thought was ‘Norwegian no doubt.’ Turns out they’re actually hailing from Canada.

I’m utterly mesmerized by the track Heiemo from their first release Disir.

“With a name derived from “völva,” a seeress in Norse folklore, Völur are not the kind of band to fulfill faux-pagan longings, neither thematically nor musically. Although they hail from Canada, the group is fascinated by European history. They delve deep into the wide array of Germanic myth, drawing freely from a keen interest in the everyday life of their pre-Christian ancestors, their relation to culture at large and its spirituality. How those people actually lived and practiced their beliefs is scarcely known, the less so since they were bound rather locally and had a very subjective worldview differing from one place to another. Hence for the band members, the Pagan European past becomes a blank canvas upon which they put their own vibrant imagination into music.

The trio is comprised of Blood Ceremony bassist Lucas Gadke, drummer James Payment of post-rock stalwarts Do Make Say Think, and experimental violinist Laura C. Bates – a mixed ménage for sure, and this is mirrored in their music. Filtering many influences, which range from Fairport Convention’s pastoral prog to the droning doom sound of Earth, through multiple folk traditions (Swedish fiddle music and Alpine singing, for instance) and a fondness for the darker side of metal, Völur are both airy and heavy in their own way.” – Prophecy