Lunatraktors – Solstice Wyrd: New Music

By Mike Ainscoe on 19th December 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

Lunatraktors – in the guise of Yulatraktors – with something ‘seasonal’ and not a safety net in sight.

Release Date: 12th December 2023 (which of course is St Lucy’s Eve)

Label: Broken Folk Records

Format: digital

A twisted journey into the dark heart of Yuletide. You’d expect nothing less from Lunatraktors. No ding donging merrily on high and not a ship (or three) in sight on this forty-five minute journey, split, should you wish into thirteen separate tracks. Nope – not lashings of tidings of comfort and joy to be found here. Move along if you will.

Despite the concession to track markings – each track has its own title too – Solstice Wyrd works best as one whole listening experience (as recommended by Clair & Carli themselves). Opt for the ‘gapless’ version as the tracks segue seamlessly in any case; like two sides of an early Mike Oldfield album with a smidgeon of his new age work thrown in for good measure, the Lunatraktors’ “Mike Oldfield on ketamine” description actually doing them a disservice.

The opening few bars of Brightly Shone The Moon (from Good King Wenceslas, save you humming the tune) use the familiar melody as a launching pad that sets the tone for what’s to follow. Discordant interruptions, a gathering of sounds from whatever seems to be at hand (including a shake of sleigh bell – naturally) and not-so-clear vocalisms. Along with the likes of When We Were Gone Astray and Let Your Heart Be Light, there are remote suggestions of mainstream Christmas – blink and you’ll miss them – albeit one hijacked by something feral. The latter is more akin to Jimmy Page as Grand Magus, coaxing otherworldly sounds from his theremin in a Dazed & Confused marathon or in an equally strange analogy, Genesis improvising around The Waiting Room in the live performance The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

Meanwhile, be prepared for one of your elderly relations to suddenly pipe up from their turkey and pudding-induced reverie, that they remember this one from their schooldays when a snippet of some carol of olden days breaks through – although the likelihood of finding Most Highly Flavoured Gravy in the memory banks may be scant. Remember The Poor might be the closest we’ll get to a Christmas Carol with the angelic choral countered by some attention-grabbing percussive rumblings; a punctuation point in proceedings where the emphasis remains on the setting marked ‘wyrd’.

While the Lunatraktors remind us that “there’s a reason Christmas used to be a time to tell ghost stories,” they reinforce the point with frequent disturbing, erm, disturbances and sounds of ominous portent. The Lunatraktor mark of quality sees Solstice Wyrd bulging with creativity. Any suggestion of heading out into the night, to free our feral selves and cavort in the frozen moonlight and the warm glow of a flickering fire, might have to give way to sipping a snowball in front of some seasonal telly. However, why not live a little on the edge and try a Yulatraktors Christmas?

Broken folk for the season – good tidings to all and Remember The Poor: