Effective period / Period of releases: 2020

From the forests of Norway emerges Sondre Bergersen Mæland, a man of many talents and of many names. Known largely for his work in Tusmørke and Wudewuse, the multi-instrumentalist of Scandinavian folk and rock circles certainly seems to live an interesting life. According to my liner notes, for example, he wrote most of Northern Gothic, the sophomore full-length from the latter band, “over a period of three years while [he] was living in the forest and worked at a graveyard,” a journey that involved a “cosmic psychosis, following a death trip [he] had while on various substances.” So… that got my attention. As Wudewuse, Mæland writes and performs a strain of neofolk he describes as “gothic forest folk,” with inspiration as honest as it gets. This isn’t quite a solo release – he recruited several other musicians to supply additional instruments – but the music is written by and largely performed by Mæland.