Review Summary: Gentle breezes sweep across fields of melancholia.
The folk stylings of one man black metal act Grift (and mastermind Erik Gärdefors) are well suited to the hills and plains of Götaland. Since the act’s formation in 2011, Erik’s penchant for moody atmospheres and simplistic black metal structures has steadily built into music that paints imagery on the minds of its listeners - a combination of gentle brush strokes and wilful aggressive hues that brings the very essence of a no-frills atmospheric black metal album to humble lands of Västra.
Budet is an album about our surroundings, with a higher regard served to the natural beauty of things normally overlooked. Grift showcases an album more easily compared to shades of grey, rather than a world of black, white or green.
It’s unfortunate that with such a vast canvas for Grift to show his art, the subtleties aren’t more pronounced when put together. Listeners are prone to noticing sections and parts of
Budet, rather than the album’s often larger than life bigger picture. Whether it’s the simply made, yet captivatingly haunting melodies that permeate the length of “Barn av ingenmansland” or the added violinist sections added by Coldworld’s Georg Börner in choice moments during the rest of the record there are features here that pop off the folksy canvas that has defined Grift’s music for the past seven to eight years. “Väckelsebygd” is similarly captivating; media samples slowly ebb into shouted native vocal lines that stick all too well to a minimal foundation of simple synth-led progressions. Despite being the track’s longest effort, it becomes the record’s central journey, pivotal to Grift’s emotional attachment to the very landscapes that drive this record forward - even if it’s at a snail’s pace that teases at a full broad spectrum of neo/dark folk goodness.
Largely, there’s a lot to enjoy here - but it’s hard to deny that what can be gratifying to some is going to be grating to a few more (but what’s a cop-out for?). Grift’s tendency to paint the world around him in tones of audible hues leaves something of substance just waiting in the wings. It’s up to the listener to pick up the emotional pull of
Budet’s natural landscape and truly engage with it. Some of the album’s samples sound a-typically cheese filled and disrupt the melancholic atmosphere, particularly of the album’s closing piece, “Oraklet i Kullabo” where the introduction of field noises cuts abruptly into pained expressionism and simple mid-paced melody.
Budet’s tendency to fall just short of black metal stereotypical nuances sees the act grow in the face of its peers, but it becomes too clearly different to be associated amongst them.
While searching for the album’s bigger picture one may find themselves lost in a sea of sounds and samples. Grift’s
Budet isn’t an album defined by a far off look. Rather the detail of single fleeting moments highlight just how fragile our relationship with nature can be. The organic, bare bones approach found within
Budet appeals to a certain style of listener, but that listener may not find themselves emotionally attached to the sound of wind over a field, or a cawing of crows in the morning. Regardless, the melancholia wrapped up in the Grift formula is a pleasant, if unessential listen, reliant on a few fleeting moments that pepper its entire length.
