New release – Mythologies (album) by Herald K
Herald K is a Norwegian singer-songwriter based in Vienna (Austria). He describes his music as “Folk Noir”. His arrangements are folksy, involving mainly acoustic instruments. His lyrics are often inspired by old, sometimes ancient, literature. Nick Drake, Dave Van Ronk and Anais Mitchell, though individually distinctly different, might all be mentioned as stylistically similar artists.
He released his debut album in 2019 and is currently preparing the release of his second album, titled ‘Mythologies’ which will come out on the 12th May. Five singles from this project have been released thus far, already receiving numerous reviews and wide media attention internationally.
“This album is loosely connected by the theme suggested in its title. Some songs are simply my own lyrical interpretations of ancient myths set to music, others connect much more loosely to the mythological theme. I didn’t want this to be a concept album, but at the same time I like that there is a kind of unity due to recurring motifs, themes and moods. Some of that stuff was conscious on my part, but some was also unconscious. As an example, I dicovered that water seems to be a recurring element throughout, yet that was never something I aimed for when writing it. There are also some dualities in there that I never intended, but which kept occuring, like old & young, experience & naivete, male & female, death & life, corrupt & pure etc…”
“Lyrically I would say it varies quite a bit in style, from straight narrative and description to more allusive and abstract language. A lot in there may be physical and palpable, yet could still be read allegorically. Hopefully I’ve managed to put together an album whose sum is greater than its song-parts…”
“The most accessible song on the album is perhaps ‘Echo’s Song’, which is essentially just straight narrative. Yet one of the reasons I picked that myth to make a song from, is that it is so profound. There’s so much left unsaid, so much to wonder about, precisely because it is just straight narrative. And even straight narrative isn’t always as straight as it seems at first glance…”
“Another song that’s quite accessible for similar reasons, is ‘Charon’. I’m curious though about how that one will be received, as it is such a dark one, all about the ferryman transporting souls across to the underworld. I didn’t dare putting it out as a single, but it will come out now… I hope I won’t scare people too much with that little memento mori of a song!”
“I sing and play the acoustic guitar on all tracks, but I’ve had an amazing group of musicians with me on this project. They’ve all contributed excellent recordings that enhanced the songs so much. Lina Louise and Jessica Slavik with their voices on ‘Arethusa’ and ‘Echo’s Song’, Stephan Steiner, Markus Mayerhofer and Othmar Loschy on their respective lead instruments, Nikola Stanosevic on piano, Navid Djawadi on bass. That all went smoothly, as they all produced the kind of thing I was hoping for, and without too many takes needed. Later on I got great help with mixing and mastering from two seasoned pros, Robin Gillard and Walter Frotzler. It’s been a production where I have taken some part in most steps, also ones like recording, arrangement, mixing, mastering, promotion. We had some nice photos taken by the photographer Funky Eye, and Oliver Pfeiler helped with graphical design. It has taken time to bring this to completion, but we had some extra time during the pandemic, when the project started, and sometimes a good thing is worth waiting for!’
‘Mythologies’ is out 12th May. You can support Herald by pre-saving the album.
Website: https://heraldkmusic.com