Monday, a new week and it's time for the annual "Record Of The Week".
"Chants From Another Place" is a tale of spiritual death and rebirth, it will thematically take you through landscapes of ecstasy, passing mountains of death and rebirth, sailing seas of adventure, traversing wastelands of despair and forests of myth. It is an inward journey and only time can tell which places will be visited under its duration.
Jonathan Hultén’s inspiration is drawn from a capella folk and church choir compositions, where classic artists such as Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel, Bert Jansch, and John Martyn is by his side in mind and is something that seeps through the landscape he has created.
The album was recorded solely by Hultén in his studio in Stockholm, Sweden, and was mixed by Ola Ersfjord from Cuervo Recording Service in Madrid, Spain. That he only has one guest artist (percussionist Nacho Montero) on the tune "Outskirts" shows that he mastered his creation in an absolutely magnificent way, that he then does everything entirely himself where the result becomes absolutely brilliant is simply world-class.
The cover art is a self-penned portrait, reflecting the melancholy found within the songs on the album and insight into Hultén’s unique persona. He has also designed amazing beer bottle labels in collaboration with Macken Brewery. Check out Hultén’s gallery on his website.
Jonathan Hultén is also known as the guitarist in blackened-death metal vampires TRIBULATION.
"Chants From Another Place" is a really lovely cozy, incredibly stylish and well-made album which touches deeply and provides a calm that I did not think existed in these times, simply loves what I hear. Hultén has clearly put everything on this, blood sweat and tears from the bottom of his heart that echoes his most personal intimate thoughts.
Tunes like "A Dance In The Road", "The Mountain", "Where Devils Weep", "The Call To Adventure", "Wasteland" follows the acoustic folkish way where the hypnotic vocal harmonies reflecting the melancholy in his lyrics. Tunes where the chanting vocal harmonies are the dominant instrument, like "Holy Woods" and "Ostbjorka Brudlat", that shows another side of Hultén's mastermind. The same way goes for the tune "The Roses", a truly lovely piece with hymns and a clean powerful vocal that flows out in a chanting vocal harmony. The two instrumental tunes "The Fleeting World" a piano-driven piece and "Outskirts" with Nacho on percussion are two real beauty's that breaks up the ordinary playlist in an excellent way. "Deep Night" closes the album with an atmospheric monastic vocal in the best possible way. The final result is completely stunning. A real masterpiece that floors me totally, am I getting old?
Sum: "Chants From Another Place" is a folkish masterpiece.
Hultén was going to join Chelsea Wolfe on tour, opening for her "Birth Of Violence" acoustic tour in the UK & Europe in March 2020. But sadly the all shows got canceled due to the COVID-19 situation, venues closing, and new travel bans.
Today's tune "The Mountain", is one of the singles from the album. It is a potent yet minimalistic ode to loss and hope. Telling a tale of soul in distress, goes forth on a journey and faces death, transformation and rebirth is accompanied by a stunningly emotive animated video, created by Jonathan Hultén himself, taking visual influence from the likes of Tolkien, Tove Jansson and art nouveau illustrator Aubrey Beardsley.
More info @
Official Jonathan Hultén Web
Listen to ”Jonathan Hultén - The Mountain" on Spotify!
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