Weihan – Galder

This album already had my sympathy before I had even heard a single note of it. Reasons enough: it is released by Cynfeirdd; it has splendid artwork in the form of paintings by the great Pieter Breughel (the Elder); and last but certainly not least the folksongs have Dutch lyrics, or better said: Flemish, since Weihan hail from Flanders, from which they make no secret. Unfortunately there are no texts in the booklet (but they can be downloaded from the website), because I find the lyrics not always easy to understand. The overall mood is nostalgic, Weihan conjures an image of the traditional Flemish land.

Weihan is a duo who are only known by their initials, namely J.S. and M.B. As far as I know this is their official debut. The first time I heard of them was through their contribution to the recent Current 93 tribute cd. Instruments used on this album are acoustic and electric guitars, bass, keyboards, mouth-harp and ‘special effects’. Furthermore M.B. takes care of the vocals. As I said, I was already enthusiastic in advance. Is the cd great too? Well, to be honest that would be exaggerated. I really enjoy listening to the traditional, a little raw folk music on “Galder”. The songs are fairly simple and not very varied, I miss a few tracks that really stand out. The music remains tranquil throughout the album, I would not have mind some percussion here and there. Also the vocals sound rather timid and monotonous, they could be more powerful and assertive. Still I have a positive feeling about this album. I like the concept, the honest music and the down-to-earth atmosphere.

artist: Weihan
label: Cynfeirdd
details: [cyn 025]