This week's track was Fountain of Light by David Ă
hlén.
Released in 2009 on Swedish label Compunctio, it comes from David Ă
hlén's debut solo album We Sprout In The Soil. The album was a surprise when it landed in my letterbox in Sydney for reviewing and has recently been followed by an equally delicate sequel.
At the time of its release, the PR materials contextualised David's work;Â
David grew up playing classical violin and listening to hymns. As a son of a Baptist minister he began to sing and perform in his fatherâs church at the age of three. As a teenager he started to write songs and play in different popbands. After moving to Stockholm in 1995 he founded Namur (R.I.P.) with his brother Tobias. Namur released one EP and three full-length albums. They toured Europe and US with their apocalyptic dance-rock. David Ă
hlén is now current with his new acoustic solo project, only bringing his nylon guitar and his angel voice as instruments.
This week everyone got pretty close to the piece despite its brevity.
SL (London)Â - #Fragile #Minimal #Pure #Acoustic #GooseBumps
KTC (Sydney)Â - If Matthew Herbert and Antony Hegarty were monks in an Italian monastery in the 15th century, then church music would have been this cool.
NS (Sydney)Â - Bass and voice. A minimalist love song. Scandinavian melancholy. Clean and complex.
BC (Wellington, NZ) - I like this one. It's stark, beautiful, intimate contemplative and melancholy. The falsetto of the vocalist and the lone bass player combine to create this mood. I can imagine the vocalist and bass player performing in a small lounge or parlour to a few people listening intently.
MBS (Sydney) - This track reminds me of an early Baroque arioso â both musically and lyricallyâŠ. maybe itâs even a contemporary reinterpretation, the melody and form is convincing enough to be as much.
A taut, sparse, sometimes bulging bass accompaniment forms the ostinato â repeatedly moving away and then back closer to the vocal line. The plaintive text reinforces a particular moment or emotion, a fragment of what could be a bigger story.
Is it part of a group of songs? It would make more sense if it was, and this would also fit with the Baroque connections.
DJO (British Columbia) - "I tried to understand the words but after eleven listens i still only had half the puzzle⊠gave up trying to understand, meaning being stole away by feeling. Sometimes we want to withdraw when the world seems overwhelmed by meanness, cruelty and raw dumb violence. And then a thing so frail small and beautiful quietly begins to sing which stops the world spinning and even the cyclops holds his breath to listen harder.
The year is 1640. If your balls aren't cut off you keep um in a cup.
She curls around her, locked high in a castle tower. Her lovers shoulders sobbing from the kings blows, a beautiful girl dumped in a fountain of light and pure water, and robbed of her youth. She shelters her with unconditional love, scarred by understanding. By the slit of a window the eunuch sees it all and unblinkingly sings their song true, bowing gently on a string."
MP (Sydney)Â -Â
dual voicesÂ
mergeÂ
pacing back and forth
baroque courtly dancers give a gentle nod to their counterpart
moving closer to form a tense yet clandestine union.
