Nordic folk pioneer Kati Rán releases new album “SÁLA” today on Svart Records / Shares visualiser for title track

 Dutch artist and Nordic Folk pioneer Kati Rán proudly presents her Dark Folk album SÁLA in full today May 24th. ‘SÁLA’ the album is based on the primeval mythological Northern Cosmos and patronage by its oceanic Nordic deity ‘Rán’, as reinterpreted by the artist and other mythological female characters surrounding its musical journey.‘SÁLA’ is Old Norse for both ‘Sea’ and ‘Soul’, befitting the Northern-themed album shaped after the shrouded Norse ocean goddess Rán and her ‘nine daughters’. It takes inspiration from different weather conditions and natural phenomena and embraces our most vulnerable emotional sides and psychological states, questions our mind and expresses any ‘forbidden’ or ‘taboo’ sensitivities, and acts as a shamanic form of soul-retrieval.

 

‘SÁLA’ explores historical literature and mythological source material from the North, as much as it offers new interpretations and poetic lyrics straight from Kati’s Rán own gold feathered pen as we journey into the conscious, subconscious, and liminal worlds of the North. Through the act of creating SÁLA and the thirteen tracks it offers, we are given a life raft or a beacon for all who feel lost or challenged at times by life’s turbulences. As much as the creation and crafting of this album was an alchemic process for the artist herself to turn obstacles in life into newfound sources of power and wisdom, it aims to welcome anyone in need of support to enjoy and explore the depths it has to offer.

 

To shape the immense and cinematic Nordic soundscape that Kati Rán and Jaani Peuhu have tenaciously crafted together for ‘SÁLA’, we hear contributions by a wide array of musical guests and friends of the Nordic Dark Folk genre, the resurrection of extraordinary sounds sourced from Kati’s travels and recording sessions at varying locations deep in Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands, and a wide range of the artists own vocal expression and instrumental performances.

 

Ultimately, SÁLA is a homecoming to the existing Nordic Folk genre, as well as a sublime new vision and genre expansion for all lovers of Nordic mythology with its historic and modern sounds, the depth of its skaldic material, heart-pounding drums and its soft and divinely sounding hymns and poetry with which Kati Rán lures our ships to sail further beyond any known horizon of the genre.

 

Kati comments:

In the last two years I myself and Jaani Peuhu have tenaciously co-produced, written/re-arranged, recorded and re-recorded, edited, mixed and tweaked some more and laughed and cried daily to bring this album into its final form out today as its ‘parents’ of sorts. I think I can speak for both of us and say that we hope it may bring some healing and light for anyone who finds themselves in a dark place, pleasure for anyone who wants to navigate its literary depths, or simply to have fun with it for all who enjoy listening to good new Dark Folk music. Thank you all. Thank you Svart Records. And my thanks to Jaani for believing in me and for all the help given while we produced this album together, when before only I believed in it and worked on this alone. It definitely made a difference.” – Kati