Review: Faelwa - Farewell Sun EP

Faelwa – Farewell Sun EP
self-released 2009

[tags: ambient folk, soundscapes, acoustic, EP, metal??, 2009]

Listen while reading:

Orphan Lullaby (from Farewell Sun EP)

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Another facet of folk music for today – we take the trip to metal influenced “acoustic landscapes” from the Netherlands. But metal influenced doesn’t mean hard guitar riffing, heavy drums or deep growls here – it’s more a small reminder that both band members (Jasper Strik and Mark Kwint) have their roots in this genre of music. The song structure, so they write, is one indicator for this and I think the drum play, especially the work on the cymbals, is another one. You’re maybe thinking now, that this is some sort of folk metal in the vein of well known bands like Fintroll, Korpiklaani or Moonsorrow, but, as I wrote above, Faelwa’s music creates acoustic landscapes and is not the folk used in the genre term folk metal (if you want a reference to metal at all, I think the sound draws from early black metal music which often features elements of ambient songwriting).

So, I hope there are no prejudices against the music anymore. Farewell Sun is the name of the EP and it was released back in September of 2009. The songs are piano driven with present but not intrusive drums, modest bass play and, of course, acoustic guitar. The opener, The Heron, features additional whispered vocals and shows the combination of metal and folk the best because the genres melt together. But still I like the majestic melodies of the title track even better – nearly eight minutes of acoustic music with lots of variations and breaks (not in the real sense of the word because the whole song is very relaxed) and lots of moody feelings in them – a very nice attempt to create “a portal to introvert landscapes” (in their own words).

But most of all I really dig Orphan Lullaby because it covers my newly discovered interest in neo-classical music the best. The piano melodies are just heavenly and the acoustic guitar adds up such a folksy feeling to the tune that you can close your eyes and you will easily see wonderful picture of nature in front of you – so let’s pretend we’re all nature’s orphans for a few minutes and dream away. What a great track full of emotions and colors.

If you’re still awake and don’t fell asleep over those fine melodies, I will come to an end for now. Faelwa’s EP Farewell Sun leaves me with a very good feeling and I really can see lots of talent in writing melodies and transcendent nature into music. Not long ago I wrote about Richard Skelton’s LP Landings which combined folk and neo-classical music to reach the same goal – but he did it his way and Faelwa do it their way. And both ways work even though they have different directions (not opposite ones!). Where Richard Skelton tries to show us nature reflected in music in its deserted beauty, I think Faelwa tries to combine the reflection of nature in sound with sad human emotions to create a web of melancholic reciprocity between nature and man.
Visit the bands MySpace and personal homepage and order Farewell Sun directly by clicking here (for a physical copy) or via cdbaby.com or iTunes (for the mp3s).

'Whispering Brook' by Faelwa

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