Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Go to the Tor Lundvall website  Tor Lundvall - Yule [Strange Fortune - 2006]

Despite being described as an EP, Yule clocks in at over forty seven minutes in length and is Tor Lundvalls second release of 2006 after the acclaimed Empty City.

Opening track Busy Station recalls much of the work on Empty City with distant sounds and ghostly minimal electronic creating a wide vista of ambient sound. There is a very slight rhythmic thrust to the track but nothing that you would call a beat really. The train home is characteristic of the this releases melodic and more direct approach. Light synth pulses and tinkling showers of sound open the minds eye to a quiet train ride home late at night, passing through frozen fields and silent snow covered streets.

Christmas eve is when things really get going and is the first of several track that feature prominent vocals by Lundvall. There is again a lovely delicate melody and light rhythm that allows the simple phrasing of the lyrics to take better effect. There is also some use of guitar and an overall more straightforward song writing approach. It’s surprisingly uplifting stuff.

After a droning synth swath of sound in the shape of Snowy Morning the Eps central track kicks in. Yule song again features vocals and guitar creating a sort of dark ambient folk mood. The vocals are recorded so to almost float on the wind not really intruding on the smooth relaxed feel of the songs. I guess for me the vocals do take away some of the mystery and magic of the instrumental music that was so evident on Empty City. Now there is a narrative, a pointer to the meaning and direction of the songs.

Fading light has a thick swell of sound that wells up around simple repeated bells and synth pulses, while January is the most minimal and haunting of the tracks. Lundvalls vocals sounding apprehensive at the beginning of a new year. Again beautiful almost choral electronics drift like dark clouds around Lundvalls silent characters as in his evocative artwork for his Cds.

The final track The falling snow is an extended work over twenty minutes in length. It begins with near silence that slowly builds with drones and minimal harmonics. Distant sounds draw the listener in, straining for those little shafts of activity and melody that trickle down every few minutes. After ten minutes a regular pulse of bells like snow drops permeates the mix, this continues for a few more minutes before the track slowly drifts away in a whirl of drone and unknown sounds.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Duncan Simpson
Latest Reviews

Tor Lundvall - Yule
Despite being described as an EP, Yule clocks in at over forty seven minutes in length and is Tor Lundvalls second release of 2006 after the acclaimed Empty ...
290324   Stuart Argabright & AfterAfte...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom