Artist: Earl Mountain
Title: Hvaða Galdur Lá þarna
Type: Album
Label: Fogged Entity (Physical 2025) /Artist (Digital 2018)
As is the way of the isolation and obscurity of a vast number of dungeon synth and adjacent artists and the lack of interest by any other than specialist labels, oft times (had to say that) we find ourselves unearthing artifacts that are both shiny and new in the tangible form yet recent or long buried in the music.
This short album by the wonderfully named Earl Mountain from Ontario is from around 2018 but very recently afforded a new reach by the (realtively) new London based label Fogged Entity who already have a fine reputation for curating and releasing superb artifacts and incredible box sets.
There is a tale here, one of a lost boy succumbing to the darkness of trelldom within a haunted forest he was warned against. ‘Beyond The Familar River’ sets the ominous journey. Low, deep wash of sound, a slow melody of fateful steps onwards as the sounds of voices, or animals, or something between. It slowly seems to circle you, disorienting you until the way you came to this place is lost in a mist between tall, dark trees and the sound grow ever closer. It is beautifully realised; the sparse sound and the noises woven between each other with a truly skilled hand. ‘Amidst Mountain Pines, He Stood Enshrined’ has a touch of the medieval to the harpsichord like melody over a low, measured drone. After the journey of the opening movement, this is the epitome of stillness. It seems to stare outwards, it’s own story vibrating within but somehow a veil of separation from it’s surrounds remains.
‘The Spells That Yet Dwell Under Moss, Root and Fell’ uncover flowing water then rain, a distant whistling tune that seems crystal clear before the mists of the synth begins to encroach. There is an undeniable sweetness here, a calming sound even compared to the darker openings, but there is an incredible sense of isolation here, a place where for the first time you are truly alone. There truly seems no reason to leave. Time is still and only the forest and the rain exist.
‘The Handshake’ awakens you with a voice, a slight echo. It tells a tale of trolls, trees, the signs of their passing. It is a fine fireside tale. A storyteller weaving his words and shifting his tones for the characters of his tales. As the end approaches, the low synths and the metal plucked strings returns to seamlessly return you from the comfort of your hearth to the world you had entered.
This a just the most wonderful of relics, a thoughtful, enveloping moment in time that you will want to return to again and again. Wherever the Earl is these years, I will keep returning to this offering just, perhaps, hoping to meet them if just once more.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 