They say that we will all get our rewards in Heaven but, for those who, like myself, are unwilling to wait for the inevitable there is, in the meantime, a notable degree of musical satisfaction to be found in the thirteen songs that make up “Monumental Thrill, Monumental Chill” by Bladverk.
Bladverk - Henrik Schmidt and his collaborators - hail from Norway yet there is little evidence here of any influence from the traditional musical forms of that country and Bladverk duly bases all that he does on a most virtuous use of the acoustic guitar and a rather oblique take on producing soundtrack cues that would be too good for the kind of movie that might actually use them. From that you might rightly conclude that much in the way of musical dexterity will be on display and that indeed proves to be true with folk music afficionados likely to recognise the tunings and diasporic membership of an escapee from that particular genre.
Pleasingly melodic, “Monumental Thrill, Monumental Chill” highlights what a motivated musician can do with a guitar and the skill and patience to create something that has an organic appeal almost at odds with the standards of the mainstream musical overlords. I find that rather refreshing.