CSPS debut | Maybe Dirty Linen put it best: “Using
implements of destruction and pillage ranging from hide drums to shawms to
jew’s harps to chainsaws and axes (actual axes), this Nordic trio hacks
into the Scandinavian permafrost to dig up songs of battle and giants and
drinking and dismemberment. Some of it is surprisingly tender; some
downright frightening. It all has a quirky, earthy appeal with inventive
uses of sound and healthy swigs of tongue-in-cheek humor.”
Krauka (Guðjón Rúdolf Guðmundsson, Aksel Striim, Jens Villy Pedersen and
Søren Koldsen-Zederkof) was formed in 1999 with the idea of combining
storytelling and music from the Viking Age. Remarkably, Krauka’s music is
played on instruments reconstructed after archaeological findings, though
modern elements intertwine, creating an intense and often wild atmosphere
inspired by the sagas and Nordic forces of nature.
Perhaps uncharacteristically, they played their first concert at the staid
Lejre Research Center and have received recognition from all over Europe
for their competent research into the Nordic music traditions of the
Viking period. On their third release, Bylur, Krauka delivered yet another
collection of new and ancient songs. As its lauded predecessor, Stiklur
from 2003, Bylur was created in close collaboration with producers
Thorkell Atlason and Henrik Corfitsen, whose electronic contributions
combine naturally with the group’s elemental sound universe. In Icelandic,
bylur has the double meaning of “snowstorm” and “noise,” appropriately so,
because much of the album was recorded under winter conditions in Denmark
and Iceland.
Now comes the band’s brand new Óðinn, brimming over with legends
and myths about elves, dwarfs, tricksters and gods. "Rå" (Row!) is based
on an old Swedish fisherman’s song and follows the beat of men rowing a
boat out to sea. "Flæskefanden" evokes the frenzy and fierceness of life
among the pagan Vikings, while "Amanden," with gentle lyrics by Laura
Holmegaard, explores the band’s softer side.
Think of Krauka as a door allowing us to recognize both what we were and
what we are becoming, when the world has come knocking with new sounds and
impulses. But above all, it is the sound of Krauka at their most
sweepingly impressive and fearless.
Fri Oct 9
| 8 pm CSPS | 1103 Third St SE | Cedar Rapids $15 + fee in advance | $18
at the door
