Langt, Langt Vekk by Kanaan & Aevestaden

Langt, Langt Vekk, a 2024 album, is the result of the work of two bands:  Kanaan & Aevestaden , two powerful bands in sound and character who have come together for a truly unique work.

An album I will definitely listen to again and again.
I recommend it to all lovers of progressive rock, jazz-rock, psychedelia, electronic music, and folk prog. A great album, extremely credible!!!

Released by the psychedelic trio Kanaan and the neo-folk innovators Ævestaden, both Norwegians, who combine traditional Norwegian folk music and rock like never before.

Kanaan contributes their jazz and psychedelic sound, primarily derived from jamming. Ævestaden contributes their "folktronica" music with ancient traditional instruments and traditional Swedish folk music.

This album, Langt, Langt Vekk, features reworkings of old traditional songs and psalms alongside new compositions.

A classic acoustic sound with strings and wind instruments, a blend of traditional music and instruments and hypnotic electronics, it's captivating yet meditative, modern yet rooted in tradition, and instrumentation ranging from the archaic to the futuristic, used to bridge the past and the present—and hopefully the future.

Despite this being an unusual collaboration, Langt, Langt Vekk is a highly ambitious album, questioning the way we integrate folk with modern musical styles. It's surprising how cohesive, experimental, and progressive it is.

A truly innovative album, I consider it the great return of folk prog par excellence, and it doesn't surprise me at all that this too comes from Scandinavia, with exceptional musicians.

- Ganglat Bortat, an almost medieval instrumental piece based on ancient strings, over which the other instruments draw accents without distorting the solemn atmosphere of the song. Pure progressive, symphonic, romantic, dreamy, epic acoustic. Beautiful.
- Habbor Og Signe, a traditional ballad in which the voice retains its folk character, with a vocality I've already heard in Greek rembetic music or in Sardinian and Sicilian folk songs. Then the rock enters, but on the same melody as the song, with a hypnotic background of harp (Jew's harp) and a psychedelic structure. A great piece, unique.
- Fiskaren, the mouth harp is now electronic and the rhythmic base is purely psychedelic space rock, dissonant strings for an infinite loop that grows with the synth and sampled sounds at the end...
- Langt, Langt Vekk, the title track, more psychedelia, space rock on splendid vocals, as if they had traveled back in time and forced the unsuspecting musicians of the cold and dark Norwegian Middle Ages to follow their space jams. Unexpected.
- Farvel begins with ancient drums like a solemn march and short arpeggios that soon give way to a splendid female voice, a slow and beautifully composed piece on which the keyboards play lightly to emphasize the rarefied atmosphere or the epic one that builds towards the end of the song. Beautiful!
- Vallat Efter C.G. Farje, with his flute opening and a rock ride based on drums, Mellotron, and long, intense choruses, a very melodic bass, a constant wall of deep bass that marks the constant and inevitable rhythm, until the guitar enters and the song becomes hard and decisive rock with a progressive structure and the piece grows imposingly until the rhythmic acoustic guitar closes the song. A fantastic piece.
- Hva Har Min Jesus Gjort For Meg is a religious song, a sort of gospel in Norwegian language and music, short, beautiful, a discovery.
- Dalebu Jonsson, a song that returns to the folk genre with a base of what sounds like a violin pizzicato or perhaps a lute, on which the drums with their cymbals and deep-sounding toms and the electric guitar are inserted. A traditional ballad with a male lead vocal and female backing vocals in a blend of symphonic and orchestral rock, with a rhythm section that, despite being performed with acoustic instruments, conveys that pervasive sound typical of psychedelic rock. A song that seems to have arrived directly from a dusty 1970s rehearsal room.
- Vardtjenn closes the album, opening with ancient feedback and a tempo marked by brushes on the snare drum and rare tom hits, backing vocals that outline the melody and keyboard warbles, until the tempo turns rock, accelerates, the guitars enter with long, distant sounds, and then the solo with distorted but harmonious sounds. The song becomes increasingly compelling, and with it the drums grow in density and depth, while the guitars and synth continue to play on this rhythmic foundation with a jam of great taste and beauty. A splendid close to the album.

Tracklist
1. Ganglat Bortat - Kanaan & Aevestaden
2. Habbor Og Signe - Kanaan & Aevestaden
3. Fiskaren - Kanaan & Aevestaden
4. Langt, Langt Vekk - Kanaan & Aevestaden
5. Farvel - Kanaan & Aevestaden
6. Vallat Efter C.G. Farje - Kanaan & Aevestaden
7. Hva Har Min Jesus Gjort For Meg - Kanaan & Aevestaden
8. Dalebu Jonsson - Kanaan & Aevestaden
9. Vardtjenn - Kanaan & Aevestaden
 

LineUp
Arrangement – ​​Kanaan (6) (tracks: A1 to B1, B3, B4), Ævestaden (tracks: A1 to B1, B3, B4)
Bass, Guitar, Synthesizer [Synthesizers], Vocals – Eskild Myrvoll
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Ingvald André Vassbø
Guitar, Vocals – Ask Vatn Strøm
Layout – Jakob Skøtt
Rose Painting – Eir Vatn Strøm
Photography by [Photo by] – Gonçalo Carvalho
Producer [Produced by] – Kanaan (6), Ævestaden
Recording by [Add. Synthesizers, Violin, and Guitars – Eskild Myrvoll
Recording, Mixing, Mastering – Hans Martin Rundberg Austestad
Vocals, Violin, Violin [Octave], Horn [Cow Horn] – Levina Storåkern
Vocals, Violin, Violin [Octave], Jew's Harp [Mouth Harp], Lyre [Kravik], Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Kenneth Lien
Vocals, Lyre [Kravik], Mellotron – Eir Vatn Strøm