Moon Far Away — Minnesang
A lot of the metaphysical, spiritual and philosophical concepts which supposedly underpin their music are grounded in Pagan mythology, and polytheistic religions. They draw upon a lot of European traditional, ethnic music and imagery, taking to the stage in large, Druidic capes and white gowns - always covering their faces with medieval-type masks. To this end, they utilise a lot of choral harmonics, percussion and instruments from the Middle Ages, like the Gusli (a type of Lyre), the three-stringed Balalaika and the ancient Ocarina (a kind of primitive flute) to produce a rich, multilayered sound and ambiance. On top of this authentic musical foundation they incorporate electronic, modern sounds, produced with guitars, keyboards and computer programming.
Apart from traditional Northern Russian music, their influences can be detected in the Western Neo-Gothic-Folk outfits of the last 25 years or so, such as Sol Invictus, Current 93, Death in June and, more specifically, Dead Can Dance - in fact, you could be forgiven for mistakenly thinking that some of the better tracks on this album were previously unreleased rarities from that seminal group.
Generally, this is a very pleasurable, captivating and imaginatively robust album, with about three-quarters of the tracks being sung in Russian. No matter - Leda, the main singer has, much like Lisa Gerrard, a beautiful, velvety voice (though from the evidence of this album alone, she doesn't seem to have the same incredible vocal range as Gerrard). The main 'leader' of the group, Count Ash, unfortunately isn't as good a singer, and he sometimes fairly speaks the lyrics in a near monotone, a la David Tibet - but without the unique accent and timbre of Tibet. Some of the lyrics are taken from Christian parables, late-medieval sources, or Elizabethan poets like John Donne or the Symbolist poet Charles Baudelaire, to create a deeply romantic, Gothic, ethereal atmosphere.
This is basically a concept album, with themes and musical motifs appearing intermittently throughout, all tied to the ideal of the 'feminine' in nature, love, poetry and art; the Minnesang being a form of early love song in medieval Europe, with the band's liner notes proclaiming: "Moon Far Away is a dedication to feminine images - both living, made of flesh and blood, and the eternal archetypes, the ideal notions and supra-real premonitions that take root, in manifest or latent form, in the soul of any human being. It is a dedication to our inner world, a mirror image of the Universe, which has, to a great extent, a feminine nature..."
The quality is inconsistent, veering from wonderful, perfectly composed and executed songs, to tracks which feel a bit too 'pop' and twee for the groups avowed idealistic intentions. There are about 3 tracks which lose their way, quite a bit; 'Sweet Olga' for instance, starts off ok, with the medieval ambiance, but then as the female vocals come in, it suddenly mutates into the kind of semi-kitsch ballad that - bizarrely - the Japanese avant-pop group Pizzicato Five would have produced, in their more commercial, later years.
The best tracks are adept at fusing the traditional rural music with modern, more abstract sounds, as on 'Come Brothers, in White Church' where church-like bells gong in time with medieval-type drumming and lyres, as a 1970's synthesiser sound flows over the top in cascading rhythms; then the vocals come in, akin to Gregorian Chants, and the various facets gel into a quite magnificent, lyrical and satisfying whole. If some of the tracks could be more like this, then the album would be near the epic stature of, say, Dead Can Dance' The Serpents Egg - close, but not close enough, I'm afraid. However, overall, Minnesang has enough beautiful, poetic songs, sounds and melodies to keep your musical soul piqued.