Hedningarna - &

Back in the 1990’s, there was a veritable storm of folk and folk-related releases from Sweden. Amongst the vanguard were Hedningarna (The Heathens), a group not afraid to revive, build, or otherwise alter traditional instruments. Hedningarna built their sound on drones and buzzes from hurdy-gurdy and fiddles, sometimes leaving the tunes in their minimalist grinding glory, or otherwise mixing their experimentation with older Swedish and Nordic pagan cultures into sonics that sometimes bordered on the electro-industrial (re-visit 1994’s astonishing Trä album). In those heady days, Hållbus Totte Mattson, Björn Tollin, and Anders Stake joined forces with two Finnish singers, Tellu Paulasto and Sanna Kurki-Suonio, with the women adding passionate incantations of Nordic spells and primal poetry. No one really sounded like Hedningarna, then or now.

Nine years on from a compilation release, Hedningarna have been reborn, sans the dual female vocalists. Hedningarna have returned to being a trio at its core, now comprised of Anders Norudde (violin, fiddles, moraharpa, bagpipes, flutes), Hållbus Totte Mattson (hurdy-gurdy, mandora, accordion, laptop), and Samuel Andersson (violin, fiddle, percussion of all kinds, more laptop manipulation). And on &, Valter Kinbom joins to add more percussion, along with Philemon Arthur & The Dung, an obscure Swedish duo who appear on one track.





01 - Tjuren 
02 - Morafjälls 
03 - Träslöjden 
04 - Vem är jag 
05 - Hedna 
06 - Mycket vill ha mera 
07 - Höjdaren 
08 - Torget 
09 - Hedersmannen 
10 - Karbonader 
11 - Soppan 
12 - Bonden 
13 - Men va fanken 
14 - Hejsan svejsan 
15 - Domen