Our beloved friends from Israel, Zeresh, have collaborated with Italian project Albireon for an apocalyptic doom-folk classic. Considering the state of the world, I choose that word advisedly.
This album has something special to it because so many parties come together and work seamlessly, something rare for a split album. The music is both spacious and claustrophobic at the same time, as the tones are dark, a bit creepy and haunting. This would compare rather well to the early acoustic forays into folk that Current 93 took decades ago, though with a gloomier feel about it.
Take, for instance, the first track of the compilation, which has Albireon pairing together with Zeresh chanteuse Tamar Singer in a psychedelic folk romp that would evoke memories of the legendary Comus, or my fellow American friends Changes, to those listeners who are over 50 or really deep into progressive-folk. To you younger readers, click on that Comus link. It’s worth your time learning about them. Albireon’s contributions are sparse acoustic settings which would be quite a treat for neofolk fans.
Zeresh add something quite different in their contribution. This is more akin to acid folk, specifically the sorts of things which have been on my playlist like Masaki Batoh’s Ghost and Kikagaku Moyo, with instrumental work done in tandem with Michael Zolotov of Kadaver.
The split is dark, gloomy, but all the better for it. Doom-folk should not evoke rainbows.