LICHT

Faun’s second studio release stretches their sound out a bit, and also gives several of the band members an opportunity to demonstrate the range of their musical ability. While the group’s ‘Zaubersprüche’ is quite heavy on whiny hurdy-gurdy, Jew’s harp and decent but overdone flute, ‘Licht’ finds Fiona Rüggeberg and Oliver Sa Tyr in particular digging deeper into their respective instrument bags.

While my respect for the group’s musical abilities grew quite a bit with this album, Rüggeberg actually seems to be one of the more accomplished players, at least on this album and the videos associated with it. Her repertoire includes a Rüggeberg that looks just like a recorder but sounds like a wooden clarinet (I guess the thing has a reeded mouthpiece, which explains the sound); also some sort of bagpipe of indeterminate pedigree; and all sorts of whistles, recorders and flutes including what I believe is a pan flute on several of the later tunes. I’m pretty sure she also plays violin but not on this album to the best of my knowledge.

Sa Tyr on the other hand is into things with strings rather than those that get blown into. His contributions include lots of Celtic harp, especially on the slower tunes like “Isis” and “Von den Elben”; bouzouki which seems to pretty much take the place where a guitar would make more sense in most other bands; and a couple different lutes, which of course no German pagan folk band should be without. He also plays a didgeridoo a couple of places, but really you either have to be a real expert on that instrument or watch videos of the band to distinguish where he’s playing this versus Rüggeberg playing her recorder; or at least I have trouble telling them apart.

Speaking of didgeridoo, the band sure gets into their drone sounds on this and all their other albums. The dark-haired lovely in the band (Elisabeth Pawelke) is constantly going on with her hurdy-gurdy, an instrument I’ve never heard anyone but Adaro’s Konstanze Kulinsky truly breath any life into. The whiny drone strings from that thing combine with her own vocals, the didgeridoo, Sa Tyr’s nickel harp which also has drone strings, and the bagpipes’ drone pipe to give songs like “Ne Aludj El” and “Andro” a pagan sound that manages to give off more than a hint of a Moroccan vibe. I doubt that’s what the band intended, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

I’ve watched quite a few videos of the band lately, and seeing them performing live has given me quite a bit more appreciation for their ability and sound than just listening to studio albums. There are two videos with this CD, the songs “Punagra” and “Andro”. Both are quite interesting to watch; while the videos themselves aren’t elaborate productions or anything, they do show the band members to be quite serious musicians demonstrating an appreciation for their craft. My respects to them for that.

Like I said earlier, this album has a bit more range than the debut, which seemed to rely too heavily on hurdy-gurdy drone and Jew’s harp twanging. Here there are some lighter songs, including the almost ballad-like “Isis” and “Fort” with its three-part vocal harmonies that are both quite beautiful. The band can also kick things up, which they do on the dissonant and rather tense “Wind & Geige” (‘geige’ being that uncredited violin which I believe is played by Rüggeberg). And they even throw in a spoken-word piece with “Cernunnos”, which I personally could have done without but which I’m sure has some meaning to whoever understands Lower German or whatever odd tongue guest artist Christian von Aster is speaking in.

In all this one is better than the first album, although in retrospect I kind of wish I’d bought the DVD that was released in conjunction with this CD instead since the band can be much better appreciated if you are watching them as opposed to just listening to them. With that said, I’m going to give this three stars and a fair recommendation anyway. Their next album gets even a little better, but this one is worth picking up especially if you’re into darker pagan-leaning groups like Adaro, In Gowan Ring, Tenhi, stuff like that.

peace

Just one year after their mildly interesting but amorphous debut, FAUN took major strides to define their own sound on "Licht". Moreover, the contributions here seem more deliberate while simultaneously less predictable. The group has achieved an appealing balance of fragile and robust (harp vs hurdy gurdy) instrumentation, male and female vocals, and instrumental and sung passages, even if the overall moods remain dark and oddly sinister.

Only the passively spoken "Cernunnos" and the weak"Wind and Geige" fail to impress, but a few of the others merit special mention, and, interestingly, these are bolstered by Fiona Ruggeberg's sprightly flute, providing a contrast to the downbeat sentiments no doubt expressed while strangely mournful in their own right. "Von Del Elben" is more typically sombre but "Punagra" is fairly boisterous by group standards, based on heavily strummed guitars and relatively spirited melded female and male vocals. Oliver Sa Tyr leads over an elegant string and acoustic guitar backing on "Isis", the melody hypnotic and entrancing. "Egil Saga" is one of the most foreboding of all, from the inventive and nimble percussion to the vociferously chanted chorus.

After indulging on and off for about a month, I now feel comfortable illuminating four stars over this progressive folk de light.

Germany's Prog Folk masters' second major release and quite a step forward from Zaubersprüche in that the band loosens up a bit and diverges and varies its path from straightforward Renaissance Faire music. The album shows the band putting their instrumental chops on full display from the get-go: The first two songs are instrumentals with 2. "Andro" (3:45) using a metronomic stroke from its to really amp things up. This is a kick ass grooving, jam song. (10/10)

3. "Unda" uses some great lute, hand drums and hurry gurdy to support the recorder, voices, and bagpipes which alternate for the front and center melody holder. (9/10)

4. "Von den Elben" opens with harp and berimbao playing support for the lilting voice of first one and later, with the help of the lute and hand drums, a second female voice. Wonderful performance by the lead voice. (9/10)

5. "Ne Aludj El" has a bit of a Gypsy/Moorish sound to it despite using pretty much the same instruments as above. Upbeat and festive tune. (8/10)

6. "Deva" is just a -supported wordless vocal dirge.

7. "Punagra" (4:41) opens with some group chanting of the title before some wonderful upper register penny whistle work takes over the show. Later a balalaika solo takes center stage. Awesome percussion support on this one. Interesting key change with a little over a minute left--which, along with the chalumeaux (reeded recorder that is the predecessor to the clarinet) gives the music a bit of a Middle eastern flavor. (9/10)

8. "Wind & Geige" is a fairly simple, repetitive foundation for "geige" (violin) and whistle solos to be showcased between fairly brief lyric sections sung by the two women in harmony. (8/10)

9. "Isis" opens with a male voice reciting some spell or invocation before the same balalaika chord progression from the last song fades in to support the singing of a quite extraordinarily beautiful male voice (which kind of reminds me of Mariuz Duda's gentle upper register). Giege and harp slowly join in support of this singer. If my German were better, this lovely song might not seem so long and soporific. (9/10)

10. "Cernunnos" (5:02) is the odd duck on this album for its long narration from a male voice (Christian von Aster). Again, not knowing enough German, the significance is lost on me. Plus the musical support consists of only drums. Probably a fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm.

11. "Egil Saga" (5:10) opens with some kind of synthesized percussives in support of a single female voice. I swear these sounds goes straight back to 1980s New Wave--of which the German scene was quite advanced. (Think Bauhaus, Schilling, Nena, and Yello.) A little weird--especially for a folk song! (7/10)

12. "Fort" (3:54) is a beautiful folk song in the "Scarborough Faire" tradition with some awesome Celtic harp playing and nice three part vocal harmonies throughout. A nice high note to end the album. (9/10)

I have reconsidered my rating of this album due to it's rather narrow instrumental variation and its two rather weak songs ("Cernunnos" and "Egil saga"). Yes, wind & violin player Fiona Rüggeberg is wonderful, as are percussionist Rüduger Maul and strings player Oliver Sa Tyr. And, while this is a step forward for the band, there are great things to come!