Shine Dión is a folky duo from Norway that releases their music on their own label. On their records they get assistance from guest musicians on instruments like flutes, mandolin and hardanger fiddle. The name of the group means ‘shining moon’ and refers to the pagan goddess of the moon Diona. Their lyrics and music are inspired by the Norwegian landscape, fairy tales and mysticism. In the lyrics there are references to astrology and rune signs.
Wyn opens with the beautiful and ethereal song ‘Flowering’ which reminds me a bit of Hagalaz’ Runedance due to the percussion. In some tracks the group uses progrock influences, like in the medieval sounding ‘Moonlit Voice’. Due to
this the songs looses some of it appeal and beauty. There are no real folk tunes on the album although almost all songs have clear Celtic folk elements, like ‘Waves of Green’ and ‘The Well’. Just like a lot of folk bands the sound of Shine Dión is a bit slick and polished. Luckily it never gets irritating.
An exception to the slick sound is the song ‘The land’. This track even sounds a bit like a quite song by The Pogues, only with female vocals. Wyn is quite a nice album, only too bad for the progrock influences. When the sound would be a little less polished, and thus a bit more natural and raw, this album would even been more than that.
