Origami Arktika

Once you get past the wince-worthy name, this folkloric Norwegian band make it up with fireside balladry, which calls to mind a mead-headed Circle or electricity-free Current 93. Recording in the region of Seljrod, the band, whose ranks swell and contract from seven to ten members, excavate traditional folk songs of the area and give them reverent yet slightly askew treatments. Singer Rune Flaten’s warm, narrow ranged vocals easily cast us back to pre-Plague times and song cycles for beautiful heartbroken ladies. The band both play and manhandle their instruments into making occasional non-proscribed sounds. The ceremony is steered by new drummer Kjell Runar A159’s (the numbers are doled out based on the person’s order of entry into the "Origami Republika,” I think?) loose, meandering beat, keeping the sometimes trancelike instrumentation from suffering the crush of gravity. While the majority of the tracks grow out of some dark root, "Fanteguten” is a lighter narrative, guiding one on "how-to” deceive pretentious women, with a tight looping rhythm that could easily double as a RZA backing track.