Wardruna, "Hertan" - Let's talk about the new track!
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
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These are my general impressions and thoughts on both the music and the video for Wardruna's new single, Hertan.
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0:00 Introduction
2:00 The video
3:42 The music
10:25 The lyrics
12:43 Closing thoughts
13:09 Goofy music videos in the genre
15:38 Tomorrow’s Interview
#wardruna #nordicmusic - Hudba
What did you all think of the track and the video? Would love to dork out with y'all! Oh yeah: don't forget to like and subscribe to help the channel grow! It's more than just a button - it tells the algorithm the content is worthwhile :)
I agree. I hibernate with bears hits hard. Bears hibernate in the earth, at the HEART of Mother Earth.
Good catch man!@@Kelly_Cook
He's my favorite singer for sure....
I like wardruna music. VERY SHAMANIC
Been listening to it on repeat for days now its just soo powerful....
Hey I'm not an expert on ther whole art of music making and what goes into it, but I've just watch "Hertan" making of and then your video was suggested to me and it made my day!! I could listen to every detail of the song and the video of any Wardruna all day and I'm a happy camper. I've watched some of the interviews with Einar about making of the songs and it's very interesting!! There's a lot of technicality in it and it's no wonder, since it's not only art, but he knows so well how to capture the audience and that requires knowing the audience and the psychology.
"There's a lot of tenacity in it" is such a beautiful observation :)
It had me literally floored while watching and listening with headphones. You are spot on when you speak about the visceral affects on the body as the song plays out. If this is any indication... I am so excited for the new album!
Do yourself a favour and drum the heartbeat rhythm to this song. It will take you places
I love it, I've been listening to it all day
The video made me think of death and rebirth. Like how winter is the end season. Plants die, animals hibernate. Maybe the whole snowy atmosphere and darkness represents death. I like how Einar says, “Like a tree, I shed leaves. Like the fish returning home, I swim upstream.” He also must go through the cycle. When he said, “I sink Into darkness The gleaming white My shell is shed.” I took that as he he died and his heart/spirit has left is body. When he says he “hibernates with bears.” I thought maybe he means his heart/spirit is hibernating like he’s waiting to be reborn in the spring/light. “All new I rise from the darkness The gleaming white.” I also like, “That which costs you deeply, rewards you deeply.” I feel like the deep cost is the end of your physical body, but the reward is your heart/spirit living on in nature.
Excellent point about the rebirth aspect!
There's a journey at the heart of this song. There's a magical chant and a suggestive, entrancing rythm broken by a sudden stillness. At that break, that's when he falls under, into trance. There he finds riddles, knowledge, experience. He is one with the tree, with nature. He swims with the fish, hibernates with the bear. Towards the end of the song, there's an intake of breath as he wakes up. He rises from the darkness, renewed.
I think there's a journey in here too, maybe of the inner variety!
Firstly, yep, loving your on point video to cover this release! Thanks Jamo!
The music video is amazing. It gives me vibes of old British folk horror films like the Wicca Man (Christopher Lee, not Nicholas cage!). With the different figures standing alone, and especially with Lindy under the tree, with those hand gestures and chant like lyrics. The colour palette works so well, with the lighting. I think it was such a clever thing to film at night, and control the lighting in the forest to give this otherworldy but almost claustraphobic feel in an open space.
The music itself, is a lot less melody driven than some of their previous work. But it's all about that build up and the atmosphere. Its more like a wave crashing over you, or living all the drama and happiness of an entire year in the space of 7 minutes.
The Talharpa and Nyckelharpa melody that comes in together is very reminiscent of the melody from Kvitraven itself, with that stacatto penultimate note in each phrase. Whether that's a deliberate reference, is anyone's guess, but it fits this song well anyway.
I couldn't agree more about the lyrics. The first time I watched it without the captions and enjoyed it, but on second watch with the captions it opened it up so much more. Einars grunting and grimacing while chanting about hibernating like a bear, certainly made more sense.
He has a talent for writing lyrics that come from nature and the old ways, but have meaning and resonance with the modern times. He doesn't just want to cash in on the fictional nostalgia of the old times.
So yep, it's definitely got me excited about the upcoming album!! 😃
So much good addition here in your comment George! I agree it's more about the drama and buildup than it is about any melodic development... there's definitely a (perhaps inner) journey in this music.
Hello, let me just start by saying that I really enjoyed this presentation. I thought you added some original vieuw points and refreshing observations! My own experience with this new song is that this song seems to open up even more than previous songs. Wardruna has stepped forward into a visual light. It being filmed in Finland and having a Finnish director means something. The Finnish culture is different from the Norse. They have a diffent connection to the mythologies. The famous Kalevala is very different and complicated. Some of the song text might well be connected to this epic work.
My own version of how I made a mental image of the song is that opening line saying Seir in Seir ut could well be transformed into SEID in SEID ut, Seid or seidr being a very old form of magic, this has to do with the aspect of seeing into, receiving a knowledge, perhaps one travels in a state of trance. Than there is the highlighted wind, like wind, he transcends and the drum, mouthharp start off invoking an intensity. Shifting focus on the music and instruments.
I always think of each Wardruna song as a journey, one never knows where one might up until the song is over. This song to me is anything between a dream\dreamstate and a night mare. Only in this case is rather a bear than a mare. The ice also plays a great part, I am reminded of how certain cultures regard ice as spirit, on a frozen lake specific rites took place. As far as my knowledge goes it was often connected to people desceased. Items were placed on a frozen lake in honor. Of course ice is transformed into water and water is transformed into air\ether or aether.
The distinct singing of the women asif they are archetypical signposts, they lead the journey, host the ceremonies. Watch over, innitiate, and then the bear, Bears are getting scarse, they are mighty figures. Perhaps when we dare to wear the skin of a bear we might be closer to our hearts rhythm.
Once we all wore bear hides and sat aside a fire, like our far ancestors did. We all knew the tone of a drum. And winter was more present then. Nowadays winter seems lost because we have come to fear the clouds. May the spirits of wardruna and their songs connect old and new stories to come
Greetings from Osterøy Norway.
I also think they're definitely opening up more and more as their lifespan as a band continues forward, and love how much they are including finnish perspectives. Thanks for sharing your perspective my friend!
My favourite band too. I agree with all you say but for the sci fi bit. Not an alien planet, just being close to nature in a freezing part of the world up north. I am in UK!
For some reason, Lindy’s chorus reminded me the scene on Howl’s moving castle where the royal witch was about bringing the true nature of Howl. I got very emotional with this song, wardruna is my absolute favorite group.
Yes! What a great visual and reference. Completely agree!
I was getting the intro to A Ghost In A Shell
The timing of this music video was unreal for me man. The day before it released I had my first heart palpitation since I supposedly had it fixed in hospital a year ago. I was already re-confronted with my mortality and hyper aware of the rhythm of my pulse before I even pressed play. For me it made the palette create this feeling like the video takes place in Einar's mind as he's dying from a cardiac event. The way the light shifts around and never illuminates anything without moving on, felt like how the mind's eye can't stay focused on any one detail, especially in a state of distress.
Not only that, but the next day I suffered a heartbreak, I lost a relationship. From then, the lyrics relating to the abstract meaning of the heart became so unbelievably potent and hope inspiring. Especially the line about being like a seed, and that I could draw strength from my suffering. And the promise of "that which costs you deeply - rewards you deeply" stuck in my head for days.
I listened to this song again and again, and I'm sure it cut the time it would have taken to heal in half. The release was perfectly positioned so that both of it's meanings could help me recover.
So unbelievably grateful for that band, and to find out that they're even going to be in New Zealand, I can't wait to see them perform in person.
Edit: Even without the song playing, feeling/hearing my heartbeat now makes me hear the song in my head and brings strong memories of the message. It's like it created a neural pathway where anxiety/heart palpitations can lead straight to hope and feelings of triumph.
Thank you so much for sharing this story. Music's power of healing should never be underestimated! And your coincidence is cosmic indeed.
Its so nice to see someone else nerd out to Einar's music, its defiantly one of my favorites to deconstruct and read into.
One of the major things that stuck out to me this morning when I first heard it is something that you briefly touched on. I pick up on the bits and pieces of some of his other music that seems almost overlaid into the song. I hear small bits of not only Bjarkan that you mentioned, its almost got that same feeling with Gra, Rotlaust tre Fell, and Lysandus.
Now, being into "witchy woo" stuff, that makes sense symbolically as well, if the heart is at the center of what drives you, you're going to find bits and pieces of things that you've shared previously that do come from that very deep place.
Beautifully put Leigh! And nice ear with all of the other references!
You'd laugh at how many tabs I had open just to triple check the spelling of a couple of those. 🤭
Hahaha hey I get it!@@eviestormcrow7741
So glad you use the word intensity! I listened to this at 5:30am this morning and the first thing I thought was “this is intense.” It’s also so comforting too. Really looking forward to what’s next.
The song that you might be think of that you said can’t remember, I think might be the song “Kvitravn”. There was a couple seconds there in Hernan that reminded me of a riff from the song Kvitravn.
Ha! We listened at the same time - bright and early! Ok you reminded me that the taglharpa/moraharpa riff about 40% in was definitely a more syncopated version of that same riff in kvitravn but I’m thinking more of the literal chorus of everyone singing together. I think it’s from an earlier album…
@@nordicsoundchannelahhh I see what you’re saying now. I can’t think of the song either but I know what you’re talking about haha.
A visually arresting video whose cinematic qualities emphasize a strikingly well written and composed song. A well made video can shroud a poor song, but this is unequivocally not the case with Hertan. There was an earnestness about the dramatic portrayals, and how they were filmed, that led me to believe that the emotions displayed were indeed quite genuine and, fittingly, heartfelt. The full album will be a total banger.
I love the eloquent response concluded with “it will be a banger” 🤣 completely agree man!
idk but If we are thinking of the same section where he says "I sink", for some reason its epicness reminds me of their epic section in Andvevarljod @ 7: 18 where he lets go with his voice, the layering of the background singing.
I simply CAN'T get enough of them, pretty unhealthy if I might add 😅
If I understand correctly what you mean by the first chorus, it reminds me of Andvevarljod.
Ah damn not quite what I'm thinking of but thank you for making me go back and listen to that wonderful track!
After your video I watched it 3 times. I understand it better, but still have a question.
The old lady. What is she, an emotion? An inner voice? Mother nature? An ancestor?
If my memory serves me correctly, she's credited as the "crone" in the posts about the video, but besides that I think it's a mystery 👻
Oh aren't we all obsessed with Wardruna at a perfectly normal, sane and healthy level😅The video would be interesting to watch on some sort of psychedelics imo, there is something alien or supernatural about it
I was thinking of cutting to a different piece of Wardruna paraphernalia and even my chest tattoo with each word of the sentence but since it was 6am I couldn’t bring myself to do the prep 🤣 that video would be an EXPERIENCE on [legal] substances