Despite being packed full of “joyous” holidays, the winter months tend to sink a lot of folks into a time of despair and with that comes self-reflection. It is a period for the earth to be reborn and for people to atone and make amends in hopes that the new year is different from the last. This haunting section of life between despair and revitalization is the exact pocket that the new record from Moon Mother rests in. The dark-folk duo from Sweden has released a new album that is held down by darkness but consistently reaches for light. The project has a Nordic disposition that feels like being snowed in and is filled with slow melancholic tones that pull the listener into an unlit space, but at the same time there is a glimmer of fire that crackles and sparks just out of warmth.
This is the second record for the band after launching their debut album in 2023, entitled She’s A Starry Night. The new album is Meadowlands, and it pulls from topics of grief, despair, and isolation. Sara Mehner and Patriec Ahlström tell a vivid tale with metrical words and solemn tonality. Think of the avant-garde proclivity of The Velvet Unground & Nico garnished with Mazzy Star and stir in the experimental art-rock guitar stylings of Ahlström, Sara’s gorgeous imagery, and guiding backbeat by drummer Robert Hall and a novel of emotional expression is outlined. It is a story worth being told, and with producer Hans Olsson at the helm, the band is dialed back into a minimalist recording that is layered in simplistic depth.
The eight-track LP starts with a 3:29 journey through a menagerie of ethereal storytelling about psychological scars from the past in “High Houses.” The opening lyrics breathe to life the songs beginning with “Down on that street my past self once met the present/ What my eyes couldn’t see had left footsteps all over my spine/ And it was the fall before a decade of winter/ It’s so strange, I was burning but the world has never been more cold”. The words revitalize a time gone but not forgotten by the bard. Underneath these lines, the instrumentation looms softly with gentle brush strokes from the kit and lightly framed guitar. The vocalization is highlighted through the softness of the players. Mehner’s voice accent’s themes of depression with want for resolve and acceptance.
The entirety of the record transports the listener into an atmospheric haze of gloomy, yet pleasing lullabies. One such single resonates with that theme. The track is called “It Comes With Shadows” and it is a lovely orchestration of divine euphoria. Although the pacing gives thoughts of defeat, the words battle that notion with aspiration. Poetically placed this thought come through with lines like “The abyss, it laughed as I was swallowed by the shame/ and the sun hung so low but still it poured the purest gold/ My hope was never as strong as in the midst of letting go/ In my last breath of despair, that’s where I dared to face the darkness”. She is still seeing the beauty between all the black. There is a driving force gained when facing agony, and its pure embrace becomes recognizable.
The other single that was released before the record drop was “World in a Glass Jar” and there is a mood that Slyvia Plath would find calming. Piano keys bounce across the background before the blissful crooning of the lead singer comes forth to take hold of the production. Her voice is angelically soothing. This song is wrapped up in trying to understand wrongdoing and not necessarily holding the doer totally accountable but recognizing that their actions may have been misguided. However, the takeaway is that she needs to get out of this place of pain.
The record is a gorgeous jaunt through a woodland of feverish sentiment. There is some absolve from hurt that happens with the recognition of trauma. The message is quite clear that lessons can be learned, and that growth is possible if you choose to accept that things can get better. “Meadowlands is without a doubt the most powerful thing we have ever created. It is a world for itself and we have undergone a kind of inner revolution in the making of this record. A death and a rebirth, I think it can be felt throughout the journey of listening to this album. Meadowlands – the place outside, the place within,” says Mehner.
I’m music Magazine Music Journalist Jason Shrum
