Valravn

by Chris NicksonValravn are unlike any other folk band from their native Denmark. There used to be groups like this, mixing electronica and folk -- Garmarna and early Hedningarna from Sweden, and Denmark's own Sorten Muld (with whom Valravn's Martin Seeberg played), but they've all long since passed. On their debut full-length (following a 2005 EP) they keep the shadows long, using hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, percussion, and mandola to create an atmosphere behind old songs and a couple of new tunes, then tempering it all with electronics behind the vocals of Faroese native Anna Katrin Egilstrød, who also helps out on santur and samples, while managing to sound a little like ***** on old ballads. It's an adventurous disc, not just using technology to break ground, but achieving a perfect balance between past and future. At times, as with "Hedebys" the music can be a powerhouse, the beats inciting like dance music, but often it's more insidious, a creeping darkness under Egilstrød's keening voice -- which is ideal for the material. It's the kind of sound that can draw the young into folk music, contemporary but filled with history, where the creak of a bow mixes with the whoosh of electronics and the thump of programmed beats. It's a winner.