A few people from Nantes (France) formed Prikosnovénie way back in 1990. Since then numerous interesting releases saw the light of day, usually filled with dreamy, ethereal, medieval, fairy-like music, and always in a worthwile packaging. This compilation gives a perfect overview of the labels’s present day qualities. “Fairy World No. 1″ gathers 17 mosty unreleased songs, from artists from all over the world, from Russia to Australia, from Japan to Greece. The sampler comes in a nice A5 booklet, which is an illustrated catalogue of the label.
The title is well-chosen, the music on this compilation is populated by faeries. A lot of tranquil atmospheric music, with many acoustic instruments, heavenly female voices and medieval, classical, world music or folky elements. Dead Can Dance is an obvious influence on many of the acts on ‘Fairy World No. 1”.
The artists assembled here are Ashram, Caprice, Anassane, Daemonia Nymphe, Faraway, Fleur, Jack or Jive, GOR, Love Sessions, Lys, Ringe Ringe, Phil Von, Wolz, Prajna, Irfan, Louisa John Krol. On some tracks artists collaborate, like Love Sessions, with musicians of Daemonia Nymphe, GOR, Lys and Louisa John-Krol.
Though the artists each have their own trademarks, they form a homogenous combination on this album, so it’s hard to pick out single highlights. I could find no weak moments either, normally the ‘skip’-funtion is needed when listening compilations, but not this time. Certain is that the moving ‘I’ve lost myself’ by Ashram should have lasted a bit longer that 1:44…
A nice dose of romantic, intimate high-quality music which makes you melt and float away. And the good thing is: you get “Fairy World No. 1” for free when you order another Prikosnovénie.
