This is the fourth album for these modern troubadours, who invent the Middle Ages as real as life. This collection closes a tetralogy devoted to the cycle of the seasons, each of the group’s albums bearing the name of a pagan festival celebrating a period of the year: Ostara (spring), Litha (summer), Samhain (autumn) and finally Yule (winter). Most of the pieces are original, and the majority are by François Rainville, who also makes many of the group’s instruments: cistre, mandora and vielle. His colleagues Steve Grenier (psaltery, dulcimer and percussion), François Perron (flutes, chalumeau) and Andrew Wells-Oberegger (oud, bouzouki, bansuri, etc.) Each write a piece, as do traditional tunes, motets, chançonete and estampie.
The quartet is joined as required by many musicians who are no first-timers either: Dominic Haerinck on harp, Alex Kehler on nyckelharpa, Frédéric Fontaine on Jew’s harp and singers Jordan Delage and Franco Turi Lombardo. The inspiration here is mainly Nordic, and it will undoubtedly appeal to those who have enjoyed the various TV versions of Ragnar Lothbrok’s universe. You will also find a song based on an Old Norse text here. Skarazula’s music also has an energy that would not have displeased the legendary Viking king, which is often lacking among purists of the genre.
