September 16, 2011 • Heiðrunar Myrkrunar
I used to think that neofolk was mostly an '80s and '90s thing and had pretty much died out by last decade and that there wasn't really much new material that was actually any good. But after I discovered the Danish project :Of the Wand & the Moon: (colons optional) I changed my mind pretty quickly. Everything I've heard from them has been great and original. Being released in 2011, thirteen years after the band formed, one might think The Lone Descent can't be anything but old, stale neofolk clichés but fortunately it's nowhere near that.
Compared to the other two albums by :Of the Wand & the Moon: I've heard, :Emptiness:Emptiness:Emptiness: and Sonnenheim, this one takes on a much more progressive and non-traditional sound. As is expected, several tracks are the good old-fashioned acoustic-guitar-and-muttered-vocals Death-in-June-worship thing (which, by the way, I think is done way better than Death in June) but I think this style is the minority of the music presented, as the rest of the songs have a more upbeat, almost-baroque-pop sound to them that actually works surprisingly well. In general, these songs are faster, with some drum tracks (some are decidedly electronic-sounding, too, while electronic instruments are generally frowned upon in neofolk as far as I know), major keys, fast tempos, unusual instrumentation, choir-like background vocals, and the like. There is even extended (and often complex) bass guitar in every song, more-traditional ones included. In addition there is even a track on the more ambient-classical side ("Is It Out of Our Hands?"), so there are quite a lot of different things going on.
The net result of all this is an album that, while still acknowledging its neofolk roots, realizes the need for fresh ideas and implements them in a very effective way. It can get a bit campy from time to time, but then again this sort of music has always been pretty campy stuff (both neofolk and baroque pop) so it's to be expected. It really doesn't get boring either because of the diversity (not having enough is a big pet peeve of mine that a lot of albums suffer from), although on the whole it does run the risk of being a bit too jumpy at times. The different style influences bleed into all the tracks enough that it doesn't sound like a few different bands doing a split, fortunately, so it sits right in that comfortable space between too monotonous and too jarring. Not many bands can pull that off well for a whole album.
To be honest I cannot think of any noticable flaws the album possesses, aside from the previously-mentioned subtle campiness, which is something I can tolerate for a track or two. Each style the album uses is pulled off magnificently. Funnily enough, the project's website contains the lines "No More Happy Songs!" and "'The Lone Descent' is without doubt the most bleak and melancholic album", two statements which are blatantly untrue as some of the songs here are the most upbeat and happy I've heard from them yet. Although, I suppose they are the sort of bittersweet sort of upbeatness, and they contrast with the more traditional songs making them seem sadder.
Either way, as I love sad and melancholy music I'll take this album in a second; it's a great listen and an excellent addition to :Of the Wand & the Moon:'s catalog.
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