Of the Wand and the Moon – Lucifer

The long awaited third album by the Danish neo-folk formation around Kim Larsen. “Lucifer” was postponed a few times, but is now available for our listening pleasure. Our patience has not been rewarded with quantity, because the album only lasts 39 minutes, including a long ambient piece at the end. The title track ‘Lucifer’ is a typical OTWATM track. Atmospheric acoustic guitars and the almost whispered deep voice of Larsen. It reminds me strongly of ‘Midnight Will’. A ‘bitter and black’ song. ‘Naer Skóg Naer Fjöllum’ is another tranquil nordic folk pearl, adorned by a flute. A very simple though effective song. Quite good is ‘Megin Runar’, with spoken words and additional bass, cymbal and backing voices. Perhaps my favourite is ‘Let it ever be thus’, with a flute and cello and even somewhat of a catchy refrain. ‘Reficul II’ is a not too interesting soundscape. The album gets a moody finish with an a capella rendition of ‘Lucifer’.

“Lucifer” is not a very surprising album. Of the Wand and the Moon offers us a handful nice melancholic mystical folk songs, in their now well-known style. Perhaps they could have also been released as a maxisingle. Tranquil acoustic songs, which are not very dynamic, but full of feeling. A bot more variation wouldn’t hurt. “Lucifer” is suited music for the dark winter nights which are coming near. I do hope though that OTWATM will surprise us a bit more on a next release……

artist: Of the Wand and the Moon
label: Prophecy Productions
details: 8 tracks [pro062]