The Old Fabled River

For this project, Alasdair Roberts was invited by fiddler Hans Kjorstad to Oslo to reinterpret songs from Roberts’ back catalogue with five more Scandinavian musicians. By the time the newly named Völvur band played alongside Roberts as part of Celtic Connections, they had new material enough for this album, comprising four original songs from Roberts and four traditional. The two Norwegian hymns, sang by Marthe Lea, are wonderful; both put her vocals at the fore, with ‘Nu Rinner Solen Opp’ creating an eerie, swirling landscape of bows scratching strings, droning and meandering clarinet and loose percussion. ‘Nu Solen Går Ned’ is more spacious and uses muted plucked strings with saxophone to create a sparsely beautiful, disjointed sound.

Elsewhere, the same instruments create a more free-flowing backing that is at once consistent and diverse. Roberts’ new songs focus on the beauty of life’s ebb and flow and the spirit of music entwined within. His ‘Hymn of Welcome’ brings in guitar and sweeping violin to enhance a gorgeously uplifting piece, while ‘The Tender Hour’ is gently melancholy in its fragility. There is plenty to enjoy throughout these eight tracks and it’s all performed with love and skill.