Fiddler's Dram(a) (Patreon)

What I know about the Hardanger Fiddle I know from two places. Its Wikipedia entry, which is replete with technical detail on what makes the iconic Norwegian instrument different from yer regular fiddles. And Erlend Apneseth’s LP Nova, a half hour acoustic performance which came out last year on Hubro Records. From it I learn something Wikipedia fails to inform me of: this fucker makes one hell of a racket with the right acoustics.

The right acoustics - those that create a keening, room-filling sound of blade-sharp clarity on Nova - aren’t easily found. To get these ones, Apneseth recorded Nova in Oslo’s Emmanuel Vigelund Museum. Well, I say Museum, but it’s also known as Emmanuel Vigelund’s Mausoleum, as the artist decreed his ashes should stand there in perpetuity. The more I read about the recording and its circumstances, the more I felt I was living out the laser-eyes Vince McMahon meme. An avant-folk fiddle LP - Recorded in one sitting - IN A CANDLELIT TOMB - SURROUNDED BY EROTIC FRESCOS.

Pure filth (or so I'm told)

All this publicists’ dream material I googled after I’d fallen for the record itself, whose sleeve holds no hint of any tombs or frescos, erotic or otherwise. Instead it’s a beacon burning on water set amidst darkling hills. Different associations but just as good a fit for the material, on which Apneseth’s cavernous fiddle moans, judders, jigs and on one track breaks its sound into staccato bits like the cracking of an iced-over lake. The impression is one of dogged vitality in a bleak environment: a bracing record for dark January nights.

Hope the Tera typing's good

Like a lot of Hubro releases it wears a certain wintry Nordic austerity as a badge of honour, though Nova is briefer, less playful but also more accessible than many. Much as I dislike admitting it, fans of Godspeed You Black Emperor won’t find the going too strange.

If I’d listened to enough, intently enough, to make a best LPs of 2022 list this would likely have been on it. I’ve not seen it mentioned elsewhere which is one reason I’m telling you about it. I suspect it’ll find a spot in my winter rotation for years to come.

(An occasional review of things I like. Just because)