Somewhere, on the outside of everywhere, is the inside. That might just be me getting philosophical on a Friday night yet there was undoubtedly something almost spiritually uplifting about “Eg Er Framand” by Sylvaine.
The songs on this album are all in Norwegian and I speak not a word of that language but that did not, in any way, impede my enjoyment. Even the minimalist presentation of all that was heard could not deter my inner self from absorbing Sylvaines’s delicately delivered enchantment and “Eg Er Framand” – the Google God translates that as “I Am A Foreigner” – felt akin to a collection of hymns, or perhaps even the pagan predecessor of hymns, with each song gently but resolutely pulling you out of reality and into a land full of mist and metaphysical wonders all whilst remaining remarkably free of the constraints of clock time. I know not what her words mean, nor do I care, for I am under her spell and I would want nothing more than to walk with her through the forest of perpetual shadows until the dawn.
I had not expected to be impressed by an album like this and Sylvaine won’t rush to the top of the charts with this one nor will the world be changed by it. Nonetheless, it is hard to deny the beauty of what you will hear on this album for this is indeed music for the soul and I know that these songs are destined to be sung forever by the wind.