Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
However much we hold onto the beauty of the southern aspect of Europe as being a dream of existence within our souls, the sense of sultry evenings and flowing wines, of warmth keeping our blood alive, we must acknowledge, that the north of the continent has its own history which runs in our D.N.A. The sagas might not be as well versed amongst the population as those that scintillated and remained from Rome or Greece, but they persist, they have meaning and we must accept that ancient civilizations and their ability to enthral through art is just as important as that which the likes of Ovid or Aristophanes excelled.
Elsewhere, Elsewhen is the drive that links time between the ancient peoples of Orkney and Iceland, the voices that the chamber ensemble of Nordic Viola bring to life through various composers and the pioneering stance they maintain to infuse a poetic aura within the production and overall exploration of the neglected northern islands.
By immersing the listener into the emotional gravitas that fiercely portrays mystery, balance, the unknown reminders of past lives and difficulties against the cold and the animals that used as prey, what is presented is an album of immense understanding. That consideration is such that as the evocative stories captured by the magic of music, the soul is remembered, the culture is appreciated, and by circumstance empathy of loss is held in the mind with awareness.
Featuring talented musicians such as Gemma McGregor, Anna Appleby, Linda Buckley, Katherine Wren and Adrian Vernon Fish, the album is an embodiment of belief, of wishing to share a memory that must never be allowed to fall into shadow. Stories after all are the pinnacle of human existence and as Carry His Relics, Uyeasound Nocturne, And, Ukioq, and Elsewhen fill the air with chronicles and narratives of times long past, so the listener mind unveils a relationship with an era they may have been unaware of, bit which sits deep in their very being.
A hauntingly beautiful reminder of what we can lose if we allow time to decay that which binds us; for Elsewhere, Elsewhen is here and now, and it is a tale of togetherness.
Ian D. Hall