Release year: 2024
Label: Last Day Of The North

Finnish Šamane are an act I’ve been following with some interest ever since their debut album Kaukana virtaa Eufrat (2019). The debut album was a bit of an uneven affair, combining elements of nordic folk with proto heavy metal – but the second, self-titled album moved in all of the right directions. It shed off all excess musical weight, focusing on the nordic folk, and put focus on the aura of mysticism and otherworldliness which shone through on the peak moments of the debut. In a deserved limelight was vocalist Saara Šamane and her beautiful voice.

So it was with some expectations I put on this, the group’s third album. But also with an open mind: if the development and stylistic shift between the first and second album were leaps and bounds, what about this time around?

More leaps, more bounds, as it were.

Truly, Solstice throws fans of the previous albums for a loop. It’s almost like Šamane took their entire musical identity and blueprint, deconstructed it, boiled it down to its bare essentials, and reassembled it in the most stripped-down setup they could. What is left of the old is the mystery, the awe of beholding something eternal, the beauty of nature unveiled; musically… well, that’s another story.

Electric instruments and distortion have been reintroduced into a prominent role. But no, no hard rock here of any kind. Instead, both are used to create droning, booming, rumbling walls of simple, primitive, primal sound: the voice of the earth emanating from hidden depths. The drums lurch on, slow as doom metal, but this too is very stripped down and understated most of the time, resulting less in a rock beat than half-shamanistic, hypnotic percussive patterns.

There is a distinctively foreign, exotic and even otherworldly feel to the album. Šamane utilize oud, a sort of Middle Eastern short-necked lute, which helps to enhance this feel: its familiar yet still slightly alien sound helps lend Soltice an aura of something just one step off. It’s slightly haunting, but enticing.

And almost like a reaction to the previous albums, the vocals of Saara Šamane have taken another role, stepping away from the focal point of the music. Her voice comes as is from afar, floating through valleys and the mist. It’s role is more akin an instrument along with the others; but it communicates clarity, beauty, serenity and lucidity. Where the rumblings are of the earth and the oud is of the water, her voice is of the air.

I don’t rightly know how to describe this music. Compositionally, it’s even minimalistic: simple, repetitive structures, monotonous percussion, ethereal vocals that refuse to carry the melody. The arrangements are equally removed of all excess: just the melody, the bass line and the percussion. The echoing, reverberating, foggy sound, however, works almost as an instrument in itself, adding its own layer to the music. Here too, Šamane have deconstructed their being, and reassembled it in a new, somehow less corporeal form.

This is not rock. This is not folk. This is… well, what is this? I definitely want to throw in dark ambient here, although very obviously Solstice isn’t dark ambient. Buu-uu-uut, then again… yeah, it has chords, it has melodies, it has conventional instrumentation – and still Solstice is first and foremostly about atmosphere, about an experience that’s more than just hearing the music. It’s one of those albums you have to feel more than hear. Like dark ambient, Šamane’s deconstruction is first and foremostly about a new perspective on musical expression, that dares question the established conventions and modes of expression within music. Music that dares tread its own path.

Well, whatever it is, one thing is for certain: Solstice is a beautiful album. At times it is haunting, eerie and dark, but at the same time there is always beauty and consolation within it. It is the barren landscape of nordic autumn: cold, unwelcoming, desolate – and still full of beauty one cannot describe with words.

Solstice is not necessarily an easy album to get into. But it’s an effort worth it. In its stripped-down, understated expression, Solstice reaches something authentic and real. In taking such a different turn, it feels pointless comparing Solstice to the previous albums. So, let’s leave it at this: with Solstice, Šamane boldly recreate and redefine themselves. And it is good.

Visit Samane on their official website, Bandcamp or Facebook