Damn, time really flies! Who would have thought that the years would go by so fast? Or…are we all really too distracted these days? Not sure, after all, almost four years have passed since the release of “Solblót“, the debut album by the Danish project LOS, and here we are again talking about them…or him, rather, what I mean is, LOS is what we might call a “one man band” or “the do-it all“, with a little extra sporadic help. Maybe I’m wrong but I think that the last few years have thrown us into a loop of tragedies and events so intense that they have taken away our sense of time and space, but, putting everything aside now and looking forward, we can once again turn our ears to the creations of the genius multi-instrumentalist Søren Sol Koldsen-Zederkof and the brand new album “Galdrablót“, the new pupil under the name of LOS which will be officially released on the 10th of February. “Galdrablót” is an album being released independently on all streaming platforms and on vinyl with a limited edition of 300 copies, with eight tracks and just over thirty-four minutes in length.
For those who don’t know, Søren is one of those diamonds encrusted in the Scandinavian fjords, another one of those sound treasures that should have been part of a more stronger musical veins for a long time now and beyond the oceans, yet another versatile and multi-faceted musician who delivers to the public much more than quality songs but a complete work of art and sound, an experience inspired by wild elements as much as nature and the very human essence.
“Galdrablót” offers a kind of broader continuation to the debut album “Solblót, yet expanding the experimental panorama on voices and sounds from within to ritualism and shamanism to calmer and more meditative landscapes endowed with overtones and drone elements that travel through an improvised language inspired by Old Norse and Icelandic but without a direct meaning, thus opening an endless window for interpretation. LOS wants to reach everyone, or rather, sheltering everyone and their senses.
As many can imagine I am absolutely suspect when talking about LOS, this project headed the very few perfect albums in my conception that year (2019) and besides everything it nailed the hundredth place in my reviews still in times of Roadie Metal, besides everything it brings all the experience of Søren and his magical years of Krauka and his ancient and solid Viking Folk, so to sit down once more to listen to a new creation by LOS awakens in me a feeling of home and once again the certainty of something amazing ahead, it’s almost like taking a new book in your hands for the very first time and already being absolutely sure it will be wonderful, that’s what this project offers, not just an album but an immersive and complete sound experience. So ladies and gentlemen, sit down and relax, the “menu” is served!
From now on, hold your breath and throw yourself into “Galdrablót” from “Månesejd”, something that sounds like “he who waits” or “phases of the moon” to me, which leads us to practically the same path if we consider that patience is needed for both, and it is this lull necessary for patience that we savor at this point. “Månesejd” is a delicate intro track, packed with the splash of bells and Søren’s shamanic chants accompanied by “drums” and sighs. And if, on the one hand, the delicacy of that moment intoxicates the listener, then “Solfærd” and its solar journey takes us back to the horizon and a new dawn. A sense of ancestry invades the enclosure and the trail opens up space for an invasion of feelings and sensations, almost like a walk on a cold winter morning in the middle of the woods that I love so much in my dear Norway. I can only love LOS, the artistic work of this album has such a great power over the listener that it becomes inevitable to connect the music to feelings and memories, even about the past, obviously the listener needs to allow himself to experience it, but then the “door” unlocked and the experience started, it becomes increasingly difficult not to fully immerse yourself.
Søren has a very peculiar and unique way of composing, an example of this is “Ravnefjeld”, a track that even features the delicate vocals of Nanna Solveig Barslev in the background, one of the most recognized names in the Danish Folk, Viking and medieval scene. “Ravnefjeld” has a vibration and intensity very different from the previous ones, at times with vocal timbres very similar to Asian folk music, and since we are heading towards the mountains then “Jotunheim” completes the enchantment, and I like that, this “play” with languages and times, the doubt if we are talking here about the Jotunheim fjords or about the land of the giants of Norse mythology, remains at your discretion to identify, but like both definitions “Jotunheim” has an intense sound and the vocals advanced to a more imposing and serious tone marked by percussion. As I said from the beginning of this review “Galdrablót” is a more reflective album than its predecessor and the title track concretizes this idea, the little more than five minutes of the track embraces us with a tender and deep song of instrumental and scintillating atmospheres that momentarily move us away from the idea of ritual to the concept of ceremony, contact with everything above us, ancestry and mysticism. I believe this is one of the most beautiful moments of this release.
“Ofring” in turn is the second single released from “Galdrablót”, it won an official video more than a year ago and brings darker lines to this album. “Ofring”, sacrifice in the literal translation from Danish and Norwegian, means exactly that, an exemplification of “returning something back to nature and gods”, an offering in an obscure ritual wrapped in shamanic chants, and for the first time on this album I hear instruments differentiated and we gain a more blackened tone of LOS, the fruits never fall far, do they? Another fact that arouses my curiosity is the introduction of guitar and bass in a more expressive way in this track, which makes us understand that this project is like a box of surprises from which you can expect anything to come out, and believe me, from one way or another it will make sense.
Completing the album is “Krigskald” and its intonation to the people for battle, choruses superimposed on Søren’s voice, giving the track a touching magnitude and depth at the same time as a mixture of melancholy and simplicity. We close the album with “Disa” and all the ritualistic instrumentation that embraces us as a “see you later” from an album that is equivalent in importance both as a piece of history, is a faithful record of culture and traditions, as well as a kind of of sound therapy.
As I expected, Søren impressed me once again and LOS continues to be a unique gem worth discovering.
If you, like me, seek in an album more than the same, if you, like me, seek to find new sensations in music, then surrender to LOS and welcome to new horizons.
RATE: 10/10
RELEASE – February 10, 2023
TRACK LISTING
1 – Månesejd
2 – Solfærd
3 – Ravnefjeld
4 – Jotunheim
5 – Galdrablót
6 – Ofring
7 – Krigskald
8 – Disa
All music composed by Søren Sol Koldsen-Zederkof
All instruments and vocals by Søren Sol Koldsen-
Zederkof
Guest vocals on Ravnefjeld by Nanna Solveig Barslev
Recorded and mixed by Søren Sol Koldsen-Zederkof
Mastered by Quentin Høegh Nicollet – Black Sun Audio
Album cover art, painting and photography by Søren Sol
Koldsen-Zederkof
Layout and manufacturing By Støjfabrikken
RELATED LINKS
FACEBOOK
Presave Galdrablót on streaming services HERE