detailed info: discogs.com

Austrain Ewald Spiss and his project Jahrtal has been active the past year in developing his own take on alternative folk, resulting in the release of several albums recently. One of [...]]]> artist: Jahrtal
release: William Blake – Lieder Von Unschuld Und Widerfahren
format: CD
year of release: 2009
label: Ahnstern
duration: 57:57

detailed info: discogs.com

Austrain Ewald Spiss and his project Jahrtal has been active the past year in developing his own take on alternative folk, resulting in the release of several albums recently. One of them is this one, released by Ahnstern, a setting of ten poems by William Blake from Songs of Innocence and Experience.

In terms of style, Spiss remains quite close to the German neofolk from around the turn of the millennium like Orplid and Forseti. This means an emphasis on calm, fingerpicked acoustic guitar melodies, soft male and female vocals, and the addition of support instruments like flute and fiddle here and there. Jahrtal adds to this a pleasant touch of Indian instruments in some places.

The problem with this kind of neofolk is that it runs the risk of becoming kitschy at times, like a number of other German genres. On the whole, the music on this album is somewhat tame, seeming to express in sound only the first stage of Blake’s lyrical diptych. The strong contrast between Unschuld and Widerfahren could have been emphasised more strongly with a twist in the music halfway, with a more satisfactory result.

That said, the music is very relaxing, and Spiss’ translations of the poems are very elegant. As such, this is an album that will please enthusiasts of this particular calm and pastoral neofolk style, as well as those who collect musical settings of Blake’s writings.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

Lieder Von Unschuld

1. Eingang – Der Pfeifer (4:15)
2. Das Hallende Grün (5:55)
3. Nacht (8:51)
4. Frühling (4:58)
5. Wiegenlied (7:14)

Lieder Vom Widerfahren

6. Eingang – Der Erde Antwort (5:41)
7. Mein Hübscher Rosenstrauch (3:06)
8. Das Schulkind (5:47)
9. Kleines Verlorenes Kind (7:01)
10. Ach! Sonnenblume (5:060

detailed info: discogs.com

Jahrtal is a neofolk project by Ewald Spiss, from Austria. He has been active in music for many years, with efforts in experimental piano music and soundscapes, among other things. Samples [...]]]> artist: Jahrtal
release: Zwei Lieder
format: CD-R, MP3
year of release: 2007
label: None (CD-R), Woven Wheat Whispers (MP3)
duration: 13:58

detailed info: discogs.com

Jahrtal is a neofolk project by Ewald Spiss, from Austria. He has been active in music for many years, with efforts in experimental piano music and soundscapes, among other things. Samples of this material can be found on his website at www.ewald-spiss.de. Now, after a relatively inactive period, he returns with a this new project and its first release, Zwei Lieder. It is released in a very limited CD-R with nice artwork by Ewald himself, or alternatively as a download edition at Woven Wheat Whispers.

This little EP contains two tracks. The first is based on a traditional folk song from Siebenbürgen, and it is gently built up with guitar, banjo, flute and soft layered vocals. The lyrics are symbolic, and are basically about a girl who won’t suffer to be forced into the companionship of a certain man. “Abschied” is based on a poem by Von Eichendorff, with music by Ewald. It is in the same calm vein of neofolk, also with guitar and banjo, but also joined by the beautifully soft sound of the duduk, a double reed instrument of Armenian origin. The song is very relaxing, and ends with the duduk playing solo.

This is a nice ‘debut’ of this project, with two calm tracks of neofolk, similar in sound to projects like Orplid and Forseti. Of course, there is room for improvement, mostly in terms of vocal performance and variation in the music, but I hope this will be better on future releases. And I hope there will be any, because this is a promising project, and I advise lovers of neofolk to keep an eye on it.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

1. Es saß ein klein wild Vögelein (4:23)
2. Abschied (9:35)