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 FORSETI
Windzeit
2002
CD
goeart/Grunwald
Andreas Ritter's Forseti presents gently melancholy German
neofolk. The lyrics are in German: good for him, but embarrassingly it
means I can't tell you much about their meaning. But I can tell you that
the texts come from Andreas himself, Hermann Hesse, and Uwe Nolte
(of Orplid) amongst others. Anyway, Andreas is a good singer and
musician. The German sounds excellent, the words are clearly articulated,
and the same clarity is enjoyed by the instruments including acoustic
guitar, flute, cello, accordion and percussion with which the songs are
accompanied by Andreas and others. Andreas has a strong preference for
acoustic instruments, and there are no electric ones involved.
Citing his likes of the time, Andreas once referred not only to Backworld
and Argine, but to Leonard Cohen and Simon & Garfunkel. I did feel
that his earlier Jenzig 10" LP leaned towards easy listening, but
this is not my impression of this CD. The music is not challenging in
any avant garde way, but it is very direct and very enjoyable folk
music with enough darkness to stave off any accusation of insipidness.
I particularly like the guitar instrumental which introduces 'Wind'.
Anglophones will at least be able to understand if not interpret the last
track, 'Black Jena', which is written and sung by Douglas P of
Death In June and refreshingly contains no references to any music
industry vendettas.
Forseti takes its name from the Nordic god of justice. The packaging
- literally and metaphorically green - has a tasteful arboreal theme.
Rik - 12 September 2002
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