Thelema — Eldur Og Is

Eldur Og Is offers up an audio/musical trip through Iceland’s ragged beauty, old gods and mystery.  It’s  the solo Project of Sturmpercht member Hajü & it certainly  weaves a very varied musical canvas going doom/post rock, dark ambience, neo folk drone to  80’s synth soundtrack  music. With deep ancient  vocal chanting/ singing by the Icelandic singer Steindor Andersen appearing ever so often.

It’s packaged in a wonderful plush 7”   full  colour 16 page booklet featuring pictures of Iceland beautiful landscape. There’s little of Sturmpercht  alpine folk traces here, one track briefly slips into  happy-go-luck accordion pump, but for the most part this is moody and evocative soundtrack music. It aptly mangers to paint varying musical and atmospheric air, though it does hover more in the darker, ancient and unknown  air. The three  longer tracks tend more towards streached out drone/electronics soundworlds  with traces of guitar and envoirmetal elements, having quite a mean and moody air about them. Where the remaining four shorter tracks are more playful and often quite cheesy with their uses retro keyboards and disco like electronics.

An odd mix of darker atmospherics and quirkiness that somehow mangers to balance the two very convincingly and managers to be rewarding on many levels.