‘Nordic Folk pioneer’ Kati Ran with an all encompassing hypnotic and atmospheric set.

Release Date: 24th May 2024

Label: Svart Records

Format: digital / LP (coloured variants) / CD

Maybe not an instantly recognizable name, but Kati Rán’s collaborative soundtrack work for Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla series, plus her work for films and video games, not to mention stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahl’s Wyrd to name a few, an indication that her music will be familiar to many.

SÁLA – Old Norse for both “sea” and “soul” – features an impressive lineup of diverse musicians who contribute to the record, including Gaahl, Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris, members of Heilung, Sígur Rós, and numerous others.

The notion that this could be a definitive and encyclopedic exploration of Nordic folk isn’t too far from the mark. Kati has spoken of her quest which has involved many years of writing, researching and travelling the Northern landscapes: “taking on board with me incredible artists, sounds, musicians and producing it together closely with Jaani and also Christopher Juul (Heilung) to breathe the Nordic soul into the heart of this album.”

As a starter and comprehensive primer, the ground covered by SÁLA is quite staggering; much of which can be sampled in Blodbylgje; an epic fifteen minute epic that’s just a fraction of well over an hour’s worth of considered arrangements in which to indulge. Digressing slightly, it serves up a spacious and ambient offering, encompassing quasi-religious chanting, spoken word and sweeping waves before a bold and pulsing and primeval menace emerges.

With the title track providing the sort of soundtrack that’s both ominous and stirring, the combination of electronic and organic with the solo and massed voices raises the first goosebumps. It’s a triumphant entry march that leads into ethnic and hypnotic swirls – Mindbeach a particularly willing example – rustic starkness and delicate intervals. Throughout there’s a droning presence and an aching emotion and a willingness to let the music breath and expand

As expected from an artist whose gift is in marrying sound and vision, the sense of the dramatic, sometimes at the fore, often underlying, is palpable. While Drifting and Sleeping are shorter, more ambient pieces that rely on the breath of wind or flow of water, the range is complemented by Segið Mér which abandons atmospheres for a shamanic chant and tribal beat – what would it be like to hear this on Eurovision! A similar sense of the melodic appears in Hronn and in Himinglaeva, where contemporary flavours blend with traditional.

A genuine and enlightening experience. Real Northern soul.

More insights into the album in this Youtubechat here.

Here’s the video for KÓLGA | 16:

Kati Rán  online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Youtube

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