Julie & Andreas – ENE Favn: Album Review

By John Barlass on 9th February 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Norwegian bother & sister duo Julie & Andreas embark on an exhilarating sea voyage. ENE Favn is instalment two of their ENE trilogy – a tribute to those lost at sea.

Release Date: Out Now

Label: Psympha Records

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

ENE

Julie & Andres are a brother and sister duo from Norway. Julie Rosketh is an accomplished harpist and brother, Andreas Rosketh, is a master of the bandoneon – a kind of melodeon that’s popular in Latin America. They’ve been recording together ever since they released their debut album, Estacion San Telmo back in 2016 and ENE Favn is the second installment of their ENE trilogy, a story that started with the duo’s previous album, ENE Sildring, a couple of years ago.

Inspired by the life experiences of Julie and Andres’s grandparents, the ENE series is a tribute to brave souls lost at sea, as well as a celebration of those left behind who had to be strong and carry on shouldering the extra burdens, even through their grief. Sildring, the first album in the trilogy, takes the form of an overture, providing an overview of the whole story – a couple’s coastal idol is shattered when the seagoing hero is torn from his partner, the story’s heroine, when the sea proves its treachery. Favn, this second instalment, recounts the hero’s tragedy, whilst Nærvær, the trilogy’s concluding episode, will focus upon the bereaved heroine’s life. And it’s all recounted in music, without words, and by little other than harp and bandoneon. And it’s quite phenomenal.

The pair manage to produce an impressive array of sounds – almost orchestral in presence and texture – from their respective instruments, Julie utilizes a wide range of techniques, including harp-fanning, striking the strings, percussive and distortive pedal techniques, along with a newly developed tango harp skill to produce the sounds she’s searching for, and the blend between the duo’s two instruments can almost be described as ‘organic.’

FAVN

The Favn story is told in 11 movements of thoroughly evocative music. The tunes provide a guide to where the story is heading, but, really, it’s up to the listener to create his/her own images. It’s not difficult; the titles of the movements offer all the clues that may be needed, and the music does the rest. ENE Favn is an exhilarating listen.

The scene is set right from the outset, with opening track, Sjøfarer (it translates as “Sea Dangers). It’s a cautious start; the tune is deceptively light and bright, as Andreas’s bandoneon skips across the tops of the waves and Julie’s harp provides an anchor. The image of our hero’s boat, cutting through the waves, is clearly vivid in Skrog (Hull). Julie’s harp sparkles, whilst Andreas pilots his vessel relentlessly forward. The weather was set clear as we set off, but things start to get a little turbulent as the voyage progresses and deeper tones start to emerge from Andreas’s bandoneon.

Julie’s delightful harp figure fades in and out as light percussion replicates the beating of a bird’s wings to introduce the epic Sjøfugl (Seabird). Andreas plays a symphonic motif that encourages the listener to dream, whilst keeping eyes focused upon a visionary horizon and sky. It all invokes the same feeling you’ll have experienced when you first heard Peter Green play Albatross. After a majestic and slightly dramatic interlude, the tranquillity returns, as our seabird swoops and dives around the hero’s boat.

Contemplative plucks of the bottom strings of Julie’s harp provide the introduction to Øya (Island), whilst Andreas slowly drives the music onwards and upwards, and all is calm as Andreas simulates the ever-moving surf for Krystallhavet (The Crystal Sea) whilst Julie’s harp pays attention to what’s going on beneath the waves.

There’s a slightly wistful edge to the otherwise warm and welcoming i Havn (In Port), representing, perhaps, the conflict of emotions between relief at arriving ashore and the knowledge that a return to sea is imminent, but it’s peace and tranquility that wins out for the soft, dreamy i Favn (In Embrace). Julie coaxes a beautifully rich sound from her harp, and there’s even a hint of a dreamy vocal.

But, it’s back to sea for our hero and this time, the weather isn’t going to be quite so benign. Vond Vind (Bad Wind) starts peacefully enough, but Andreas whips up the waves with his bandoneon and you can sense that the boat’s crew are starting to become unsettled. All seems to be under control, but the wind is a fickle and often cruel master, and things take a turn for the worse as the Uvær (Storm) takes hold. It’s a truly ominous tune that builds dramatically and the listener knows that there’s only going to be one outcome…

… and that outcome is i Havets Faven (In The Sea’s Embrace), a short piece, full of space, that leaves the listener in no doubt: our hero’s boat has sunk and is drifting, with all hands still aboard, inexorably towards the ocean’s bed. But that isn’t quite the end of this dramatic tale. A drawn-out tone from Andreas’s bandoneon signifies a slow awakening and our hero’s realization that although his ordeal may be over, he’s now in a better place – i Gut’s Havn. It’s a slow, peaceful ending to a splendid and thoroughly engaging album.

Listen to i Havn, a track from the album, here: