THE PAGAN MUSIC LIST #9: Sigur Rós, Trobar de Morte, Myrkur
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The PAGAN MUSIC LIST is an attempt to create a comprehensive list of Pagan, Heathen, Esoteric, Animist, and related music that we listen to and love. We include embedded YouTube, Soundcloud, or Bandcamp links when possible for each artist.
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Collection 9: Sigur Rós, Trobar de Morte, Myrkur
Sigur Rós
Nordic, Electronic
Recommended Albums: Takk, Odin’s Raven Magic
Artist Website: https://sigurros.com/
For most people, Sigur Rós probably needs no introduction. Their aetheric, hope-drenched vocals (often sung in a made-up language called Hopelandic) and epic, sweeping electronic sounds have appeared in films, commercials, and television series in both the United States and in Europe. For those who’ve never heard them before: you’re in for the most magical music experience imaginable.
Hailing from Iceland (their name means Victory Rose, which is also the name of vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson’s young sister) and founded in 1994, Sigur Rós has released 7 full length studio albums as well as multiple soundtrack and atmospheric “remix” albums. Of particular note in this last category is Route One, a 24 hour live album recorded while traveling across Iceland’s Route One. (Each track title is based on specific GPS locations along that route).
Best of all their albums, or at least definitely the most known, is Takk..(Thanks…), which solidified their reputation as one of the most hope-drenched musical projects in existence.
From that album, the song Hoppípolla (Puddle Hopping) is pure joy:
My favorite song from them, Olsen Olsen, is from one of their first albums, Ágætis byrjun. The song has no intelligible lyrics (it’s in their signature “Hopelandic” language) but sounds full of meaning:
Most interesting for this list, however, is their album just released last year: Odin’s Raven Magic. Performed with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, the Ásatrúarfélagið (High Chieftain…essentially priest—of Icelandic Asatru), Odin’s Raven Magic is an Icelandic poem originally dismissed as a fabrication but now seen as one of the ancient Eddas. The entire poem is performed in multiple musical tracks with a full orchestra.
Trobar de Morte
Pagan Folk
Recommended Album: The Silver Wheel
Artist Website: https://www.trobardemorte.com/news.htm
Trobar de Morte is a Catalonian Pagan folk band based in Barcelona, who sings primarily in English (though occasionally in Spanish and Catalan as well). Often compared to Hungarian-based The Moon and the Nightspirit, their songs are deeply pagan while avoiding the campy witchy feel of most similar American bands or of more popular bands like Omnia.
Despite being around since 1999 and having several great albums, it’s incredibly difficult to find information about the band, at least in English, so I can only talk about their music rather than the band itself.
That being said, their music is enough. Lead vocalist Lady Morte’s voice is haunting and full, with a deep ritualistic quality. The musicianship is likewise great, meriting comparisons to The Moon And The Nightspirit.
While their best album overall is Ouroboros, my personal favorite is an earlier one, The Silver Wheel, primarily because Arianrhod is one of the goddesses who’s been most around in my life since a little before I found the band. Speaking of Arianrhod, here is their song bearing her name as title:
I am Arianrhod, mother of wind and skies
I am Arianrhod and The stars and moon are mine
My home is found beyond the northerly winds
I am the storm that whirls and the calm inside its eye
As I said, Ouroboros is overall their best and most consistent. My favorite song from that album is Summoning the Gods, whose Spanish lyrics are sung backwards throughout the entire piece:
Myrkur
Black Metal, Pagan Folk
Recommended Album:
Artist Website:
Mykur is a female-fronted Danish Black Metal band consisting primarily of Amalie Bruun. There are not many female-led Black Metal bands, so it’s not easy for a woman to make a name for herself in that genre. Even more difficult for Bruun was that she was previously known as an actress and a singer in a hipster band, as well as a ballet dancer, none of which easily mesh with the apocalyptic nihilism of Black Metal.
Regardless, Myrkur is probably one of the best bands in the genre, with a ferocity and deep connection to sorrow and primal anger in much of her music.
Older albums are heavy and angry, but her more recent albums, especially Folkesange, are much more focused on traditional instruments and songs.
From the album Folkesange, the song Ella—which may be a reference to her own miscarried child—speaks of an oceanic drowning and rebirth under a full moon:
Much more metal yet likely accessible to even those who are not fans of the genre is the song Ulvinde, a song mourning the loss of a homeland (Norway) by an exile. The video for the song is definitely worth watching.