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Lithuanian ritualistic dark-folk project Vėlių Namai presents "Saulės Kalvis" ('The Sun's Blacksmith'), the first single from its fourth full-length entitled Alkai, which will be released on the 20th of January 2023 via Nordvis Produktion. Alkai serves as an open invitation to experience the mystical world of the Baltics - to feel the sacredness of its ancient past.
Band leader Julius Mitė comments: "Saulės Kalvis" is about Teliavelis, a Baltic mythological god who - according to Baltic mythology - was the blacksmith who forged the sun. Afterwards, he put it in the sky to illuminate the earth and make the land fertile. The video clip was shot at Kilkim Žaibu, a Baltic culture and extreme music festival which takes place during the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. In the Baltic tradition, the summer solstice (Rasos, Kupolės) marks a very important celebration. The live performance features a symbolic blood sacrifice, as well as the lighting of a symbol of the sun. The symbol then ignites the great bonfire, honouring the sun and the warmth it provides. It's a celebration of the sun before the period when days become shorter and darkness starts to return."
Draped in a sonic tapestry woven from a great variety of musical traditions, the listener is sent off on a hypnotic flight of the imagination. Ceremonial chanting and droning folk parts give way to a kind of otherworldly, trance-inducing techno performed with mostly organic instruments. As with the radically different music styles, digital and analogue sounds are fused together seamlessly. Pulsating minimalism merges with vocals and shamanic percussion to create a hypnotic soundscape coated by mesmerizing melodies played on guitars, lutes, and ethnic string instruments such as the Turkish baglama, Lithuanian kanklės and Latvian giga. This ambitious concoction boils down to an exquisite brew infused in equal parts with Dead Can Dance, Wardruna, Sigur Ros, and various electronic music.
Vėlių Namai invites you to experience the darker side of nature, and of existence itself. Tread the trail of spirits - shrouded in mists and mysticism - and touch the other side. Visit your true home in the realm beyond. Link
Alkai tracklist:
01. Aftensinn (Evening Mood)
02. Væringjar (The Varangians)
03. Bardo
04. Vilkobelė (The Hawthorn)
05. Miklagarðr (The Great City)
06. Alkai
07. Saulės Kalvis (The Sun's Blacksmith)
08. Paskandos (The World Beyond the Water/Hell/Drowning)
09. Invocation Of The Nine-Horned God
10. The Plateau
11. Nótt (The Night)
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