Brynilde is a musician currently based in Maryland, but it should come as no surprise that her new album The Sound of the Winter Sun, between its title and lightly mystical artwork, has a distinctly European flavor that combines New Age elements of folktales, medieval fantasy, and pagan magic. With Kate Bush seemingly everywhere now, it’s a good time to look at artists who have actually been influenced by her work, and indeed Brynilde’s voice sounds remarkably like hers at times, but it’s Bush backed by a band that verges at times into gothic or even industrial territory.
From the outset, Brynilde presents an album that is a self-contained universe with its own logic and atmosphere, and her vocal performances, at times both dramatic and restrained, capture that same essence of Bush running through the Moors. On songs like “The Descent” there is an operatic but ethereal quality that is largely piano-driven and reserved until the very end when there is a sudden blast of melodic hard rock guitars. Others like “Priestess or Shieldmaiden” are defined by thundering drums and classical guitar while “Echos de Tonnerre” includes the surprisingly effective use of sitar.
The Sound of the Winter Sun completely ignores any and all current music trends, and it is all the better for it as Brynilde creates an album that is as timeless as it is mysterious.
