Naïve Magic: A Dungeon Synth Digest #11—Roundup
Dungeon synth is very special in its ability to be digestible. While this sounds like you should eat your music, it is more about the ability to absorb everything it is offering. More so than other genres, one could reasonably follow most of what dungeon synth is releasing without having to make concessions. Unlike even other niche genres like black and death metal, dungeon synth is small enough and easily accessible enough with an internet only community, that following what it is doing is feasible. While there is no way of hearing everything that has been released, one could make a decent effort in watching what is happening by following major social media pages and new Bandcamp releases. With a reasonable amount of effort, dungeon synth exists as a manageable entity for enjoyment or even archival purposes. This is what I have been doing for some time.
Most of the time when writing about music, I am excited to discover new things and my articles are just me being overjoyed to share new music. I feel I can only process new information when I relate it to other people. I inherently want to share new things in order to experience wonderful things together. When writing these dungeon synth digests, the albums I add are the ones I am discovering for the first time, meaning these articles are more like field notes when discovering some new plant or wildlife. I am sure there will be plenty more to find, or maybe in the future this long path I have traveled down with dungeon synth will lead to a new biome of strange delights I never knew existed. I thank the ones who read these articles, since you are the people who I run to with a basket full of strange plants. I have been lost in these woods for many years but I have no intention of finding my way home since it is so much more interesting being out here with you.
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In 2021, I wrote extensively about Ulk‘s Shellbound. In fact, for my first Dungeon Synth Digest I was particularly happy to have it released in time for me to write about it. The praise I gave this record was not just for its altruistic donations to wildlife rehabilitation but also for its transitive mastery over somber landscapes. Restoration Magic might be a fitting title for Ulk’s journey in this world as their life seems to be that of a druid who is slowly nurturing the world back to health. Ulk has always been a master at solemn hymns which feel both meditative and mournful and their work is forming a tome of nature based dungeon synth which rivals some of the genres great masters has been a splendor to watch in real time. Restoration Magic is another chapter in this book which combines both old and new as Ulk continues to weave the classic haze of dungeon synths past into the fabric of today’s soundscapes.
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Gondolin Records continues to amaze me by releasing material from 2021 that I have never heard of until now. I swear if I heard atmospheric dungeon synth from Denmark with an album cover that looks like it was left out in the woods overnight, I would have written about it twice. Soltaagens Skikkelser is the debut and only release from ,Taagebue which is a solo project from one of the members of the Danish black metal band Ildskær. Since it appears that some of us didn’t hear it the first time around, Gondolin Records has provided everyone a chance to hear its spiraling magic as if just released. Over six glacial tracks, Soltaagens Skikkelser takes inspiration from old masters like Depressive Silence but ultimately builds their own structure upon frozen tundras and icy mountain crags. With some tracks reaching into the 10 minute mark, Soltaagens Skikkelser never tires in its quest to amaze and with enough variation in its sound, the experience becomes cinematic reaching into the sublime. With a penchant for frigid wonder, Taagebue constructs castles and surrounding landscapes made of ice which are always welcoming as you are their new monarch.
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I love Ithildin and silently wish for new work. I seem to have wished correctly since it appears I am getting much more than could ever have dreamed. At the time of this writing, Arda’s Herbarium – Vol. 1 was released a few days ago by the artist and already the album is seeing a tape release by Voices of the Anuir. Inspired by the book “Flora of Middle-Earth,” Ithildin dedicates each track to a unique element of Tolkien plantlife. By the fact we are only treated to the As and Bs of the book, and by the admission of the artist this will be a series, all indications point to a multivolume in the realm of ten releases. This is a huge endeavor on a topic that could be considered mundane. The contrast between the two is intoxicating. With each track only one or two minutes long, Ithildin constructs humble melodies which fit each of the subjects such as “Bay,” “Bean,” and “Barley.” The magic in the understated develops into an epic musical envor which feels grand and unpretentious. I have already signed up to be a part of this if nothing else than getting to the Xs, the Ys, and finally the Zs.
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You Meet In a Tavern…. is a compilation of songs made by the users of the Melkor’s Dungeon discord. Prompted only by the sentence “You Meet In a Tavern….” users wrote and submitted songs that were eventually compiled and released into a compilation. This release was later made into a tape by Weregnome Records with proceeds going to the International Red Cross. Participants for this collaborative project include known names such as Erang, Elminster, Cursebitten, and Willow Tea as well as others that are still to be known. These community projects are fascinating as they are moments in time and place possessing a unique existence. This is dungeon synth in the Spring of 2022 on a specific social media site and created by the people who chose to be involved. While it might be niche, it still is a potent snapshot in time that captures a group of connected users who decided to do something for good. Not only is it a compilation and sampler of current talent, it is an archival artifact which documents a moment in time for the dungeon synth scene.
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At times I feel strange covering Fogweaver since I have included projects by Keys to Oneiria, Snowspire, as well as releases from Fableglade Records. The creator of all of these is always doing something so it might be uprising when they get covered more than once. The Fogweaver project takes the lore of Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea and creates interpretations and atmospheres based around its world. Fogweaver’s choice to embrace another spectrum of fantasy is laudable since it gives new perspective and new voices for authors to thrive in dungeon synth. Labyrinthine, the first release in two years, is based entirely on the series second book, The Tombs of Atuan. Much like its source material, Labyrinthine embraces a maturing spirit trading the optimism of 2020’s Spellwind for a melancholic realism which still possesses the magic of dungeon synth but in sober tones . While Fogweaver’s music has always been galvanized by haze, Labyrinthine mimics the heroine’s journey by casting its music into a world of darkness and uncertainty. Fogweaver’s use of fantasy literature and admiration for its main protagonist Tenar is archetypal for this sound as artists are inspired by media and are roused to react to it with aching atmospheric soundscapes.
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Dungeons Deep Records has been known to find and archive dungeon synth artists others should know about. Moonjeie, along with Seefonktjúenderee is one of two releases from Danish artist Nortfalke which saw positive reception in 2021. Both of these releases would find their way to Dungeons Deep which saw a special tape and vinyl edition. The reason for all of this interest around Nortfalke comes from a catalog of music that is both chilling and cosmic. Berlin school is a style of synth based music which predates dungeon synth but is becoming appreciated as a long connected ancestor. Nortfalke pays tribute to artists such as Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream by having hypnotic synthscapes but buries it in winter synth. The resulting sound which can stretch to near 20 minute tracks is that of a spaceship hibernating within a tomb of glaciers. There is a cold majesty which hums throughout the entirety of Moonjeie, which is both unassuming and entirely effective.
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While the name Haryon might not be recognizable to many, fans of dungeon synth might recall the names Draped in Shadows, and most certainly Murgrind. A long time producer of dark symphonic dungeon synth, Murgrind has been dawning masks and releasing glacial works which reject dungeon synth’s penchant for expediotus productions. Each release from the artist’s Uralte Herrschaft Productions usually comes in extensive CD production and each release is treated with long and grand celebrations. The pageantry around each release is met with a package of equal merit and quality. At almost an hour, Memories of Arda is a cinematic experience with songs that feel more like a journey than a brief explosion of magic. With an eternal devotion to a classic sound, Haryon evokes the masters of old and plays dungeon synth as it existed in the minds of creators in the 1990s. Haryon continues the tradition of making dungeon synth that fis monumental and immutable as if this is always the way it sounded and will continue for ages.
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Give me weird shit to collect and I will love it forever. The Tidal Charm is a meeting place for a handful of internet genres that all have outrageous names. While we usually talk about dungeon synth, the styles covered in this compilation include vaporwave, slushpunk, solarpunk, new age, computergaze and various others which might or might not exist. The point of these genres isn’t really to describe a concrete idea rather moods and atmospheres. We have moved past actually making sure our words describe concrete ideas. Chronicles of the Tidal Charm: Vol. I is mood music constructed of things that might only have a tenuous existence. This collective collection is really the flora of the internet and underlines our ability to share ideas and exist throughout the spectrum of time. This might all seem abstract but Chronicles of the Tidal Charm: Vol. I is less of a compilation and more of a palace of feelings where the listener is invited to attend court and be a part of its royalty.
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Frostgard‘s Valaquenta I might have been released in the darkspace of late December to really be included in the year end lists. This fact of temporal deadlines did not stop people from responding positively to the artist’s glorification of the Valar — the immortal beings who shaped the world of Ardsa in the Tolkien mythos. Valaquenta II is the second release based around this idea which continues Frostgard’s use of atmospheric dungeon synth to carve out landscapes of sorrow and hope for the future. The two releases from Frostgard showcase the response from people when an artist explores a topic in great detail. While Tolkien lore continues to be the backbone of the dungeons synth genre, Frostgard’s ritualistic obsession with The Silmarillion is conveyed through music that is both immersive and fantastical. This obsession is transmuted through its music which is both carefully curated and deeply involved. Both Valaquenta releases are seeing tape releases by the very weird Weregnome Records in the upcoming Summer.
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In February of 2022, Deionarra released their debut Woodland Gatherings only to be followed up by a second in March. I have no idea what the future brings from this Argentinian composer but I am going to assume it will come from the same magical forest the others came from. From the first moments of the album’s opening track, “Woodland gatherings (A summer place)” the listener is given enchanted narcotics and sent into a spiraling wonderland of memories. This is music to get lost to and not care about getting home. Both Deionarra and the mysterious label Rusty Pilgrim, which I feel is attached to the artist, offer mysteries in the form of music and tapes from this mysterious place.
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Oh, how I love hand drawn covers and releases that are less than ten minutes. In a previous article I lauded the work of raw ambient not only for its sound but for the its unique visual aesthetic. Silent Garden is another entry into this unfiltered world and Demo I is. The artist states they are from Indonesia which would make the Indonesian raw ambient and dungeon synth scene one more than originally thought. Inspired by artists such as Sunken Grove, The Herbalists, and probably many other projects from The Realm of Sleep, Silent Garden cultivates their terrace of nocturnal plants contributing to a quiet but populated corner of dungeon synth which showcases unvarnished beauty. This demo might only be ten minutes long but within its short running time is unchecked beauty which is captured between tape hiss and imperfections. Dungeon synth has always been a bedroom style and artists like Silent Garden remind everyone of the power in dreaming.
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