Dutch artist and Nordic folk pioneer Kati Rán has signed with Svart Records, in Finland and her second full-length album, Sála, is out now, as is a video for the title track.
“Well, well, what can I say or write about this auspicious day, where Sála has been born,” said Rán the other day. “Such a big event, when you have put all your heart and soul and craft into it makes any artist speechless at first. It’s both a strange feeling of relief and sentimental nostalgia, as we release Sála today, so that these songs can live their own lives and their meaning have their own interpretation for all the listeners out there, henceforth.
“In the last two years I myself and Jaani Peuhu have tenaciously co-produced, written/re-arranged, recorded and re-recorded, edited, mixed and tweaked some more and laughed and cried daily to bring this album into its final form out today as it’s ‘parents’ of sorts. I think I can speak for both of us and say that we hope it may bring some healing and light for anyone who finds themselves in a dark place, pleasure for anyone who wants to navigate its literary depths, or simply to have fun with it for all who enjoy listening to good new Dark Folk music. Thank you all. Thanks you, Svart Records. And my thanks to Jaani for believing in me and for all the help given while we produced this album together, when before only I believed in it and worked on this alone. It definitely made a difference.”
You can check out the video for ‘Sála‘ here at RAMzine. Album and video follow in the wake of previous single, ‘Kólga|16’.
”‘Kólga|16’, is one of the coldest waves of the nine billow-maidens of Rán, one that can take your breathe away in a overpowering chokehold of ice water. What we deem the most ‘destructive of powerful forces of nature’ are as well a necessary and powerful catalyst for change, or gain newfound clarity.” Kati Rán expressed of the song, also noting: “‘Kólga|16’, as well touches upon many female figures that in one way or the other made significant sacrifices in their lives, have been sacrificed, betrayed, persecuted or deliberately put in another light in history, in mythology and various folktales across time and culture.”
You can check out the animated video that accompanies the single here at RAMzine.
Kati Rán is known for her collaborative audio work for Netflix’s TV series Vikings: Valhalla, films and work for videogames, her stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahls Wyrd to name a few, alonsgside previous releases; including Nordic dark folk track ‘Blodbylgje’ and Icelandic track ‘Unnr|Mindbeach’; that has received millions of streams and gathered a tightly knit Nordic folk music loving audience around her.
”For me, signing to Svart Records was the most natural next step,” said Rán. “Collaborating and releasing my music with Svart’s long-standing expertise in bringing out amazing artists and vinyl for true music connoisseurs, I’m grateful to be able to bring my audience a beautiful, elevated experience to enjoy my new Nordic dark folk album Sála.
“Together with Jaani Peuhu (Swallow The Sun, Ianai, Lord Of The Lost, Hallatar) and Christopher Juul (Heilung), my new album has been tenuously crafted and produced and is curated by my many years of writing, researching, and traveling the Northern landscapes, taking on board with me incredible artists, sounds, and musicians to breathe the Nordic soul into the heart of this album.
“I’m looking forward to opening the floodgates to Sála with the release of the first single and opening track ‘Stone Pillars’ on the 23rd of February. It embraces our most vulnerable side, questions our mind, and attempts to resurrect or reposition ourselves through spinning with the Fates. It dips right into the heart of things.”
Five years after the dissolution of her band L.E.A.F; a new, more primordial Rán was revealed on the release of her 15-minute single ‘Blodbylgje’. Its oceanic theme expanded for Sála as it embarks on a far-reaching musical and personal travelogue, intent on reawakening both the feminine narratives submerged and fragmented within Norse mythology, and the enduring, healing powers held within.
Named after the Old Norse word for soul and sea, Sála is an act of soul retrieval, the shamanic art of trauma recovery, be it illness, death, heartbreak or loss, and the reintegration of a splintered self. Across its 13 tracks, the album is an embodiment of different feminine voices and perspectives – From the Norse nine daughters of the sea, or billow maidens, through various historical and fictional figures to the late-night voices we hear in our most liminal states – All with tales to tell, riddles to solve, challenges to be accepted and guidance to offer. It’s a multiplicity that, like the ocean itself, belongs to a vast, restless dynamic: a matrix of mysteries, unfathomable depths and ever-shifting currents, accumulating into an elemental, regenerative source of power.
Recorded in a barn in Húsafell, Iceland – Home to glacier ice caves and a rare lava stone marimba rediscovered for the track ‘Stone Pillars’ – as well as Finland, Norway and at home in Rán’s native Netherlands, Sála is said to be as much a chronicle of her own perspective-shifting recording process as it as a pilgrimage through different viewpoints and internal states. That itinerant urge is also reflected in the use of different languages, ranging across Norwegian, Old Norse, Icelandic, and, for the first time, English, her combination of ancient texts, historical reimagining’s and unguarded personal reflection backed up by deep research into the most resonant recesses of Nordic lore.
A sense of communion is spun throughout, with stories offering moral guidance and the thrill of the unknown; with the element of water, recreated across the album both in field recordings and the organic nature of the music itself.
Appropriately, it’s a collaborative venture too. As well as working closely together with Finnish producer Jaani Peuhu, there are contributions from across the musical spectrum, including extreme metal vocalist extraordinaire Gaahl, the Icelandic female choir Umbra Ensemble, renowned Norwegian jazz musician Karl Seglem, Björk and Brian Eno contrabassist Borgar Magnason, members of pagan folk acts Völuspá, Gealdýr, Heilung and Theodor Bastard and even Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris on vocals.
Special vinyl editions in gold, transparent smoke, and black as well as digipack CDs and t-shirts are available to order now via Svart Records and it can be ordered digitally here.
Rán ‘s previous single release from the album was ‘Stone Pillars’ that featured a couple of special guests in the form of Gaahl and Napalm Death‘s Mitch Harris. Available digitally, you can check out the video for it here at RAMzine.
Aside from Gaahl and Harris, Sála features an impressive line-up of diverse musicians who lent their talents to the record, including, members of Heilung and Sígur Rós
You can also watch a short documentary clip about the record by Kati Rán here at RAMzine.
