Review Summary: Shepherds, travellers, drunkards, priests, knights: everything medieval!
Fief is a medieval ambient project active for over a decade, and one of the most well-known artists in the dungeon synth subgenre. The goal of medieval ambient music is self-evident: to capture the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, seize the listener’s imagination, and transport them to another era, an entirely different world.
VII is, of course, the project’s seventh full-length album, and in my opinion, it also marks a significant musical milestone.
From the very beginning, Fief’s music has possessed a unique charm, even a magical atmosphere. This was most evident in the project’s distinctive melodic world (featuring numerous medieval and Renaissance tunes), which gradually became more refined (with more instruments, more abstract themes, etc.), while additional atmospheric elements were layered onto this foundation. The latest stage of this evolution is the
VII album.
One of the greatest achievements of this record is its remarkable diversity despite its simplicity (never more than two or three instruments playing at once). Alongside the usual plucked instruments, the album features bells, woodwinds, occasional choirs and gregorian chants (could this be the influence of DIM?), and, at times, various synthesizers (though, to my knowledge, all instruments in Fief’s music are artificial, meaning they are performed on synthesizers). And here’s the real twist with
VII compared to previous Fief albums: sound samples play a significant role! This is immediately apparent in the album’s very first track, “Pastourelle”, where the gentle bleating of a flock of sheep and the jingling of a shepherd’s staff welcome the listener. It’s simple, yet brilliant: as the velvety melodies begin, one almost finds themselves mentally wandering through a sunlit valley among shepherds in another age. Similarly captivating is one of the album’s most atmospheric tracks, “Meet Me When Turrets Notch the Setting Sun” (also my personal favorite), where ethereal, drone ambient-like melodies are accompanied by the faint creaking of a carriage on the road (and even the coachman’s whistle can be heard once). From this scene, a whole journey unfolds before our ears, as the changing landscape is painted by the music’s metamorphosis in our mind!
I could go through each track on the album one by one, describing many similarly fantastic scenes, but I’ll leave the joy of discovery to every adventurer. However, the examples mentioned above perfectly illustrate how immersive and sweetly (and strangely) nostalgic the atmosphere of
VII is. We are dealing with a true escapist masterpiece - one that, I believe, this release will be remembered as one of the most vivid and complete musical embodiments of the dreamlike world of the Middle Ages.
