''Eden'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

released in 2011 by the German band

Faun The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their c ...

. It was the only album to feature member Rairda.

Lyrics and Concept

The album covers many different topics such as

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, including "Hymn to Pan" about the Greek god of the same name. Other songs deal with other mythologies: The lyrics of "

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

" are from an ancient Finnish poem honoring the forest-god. " Lvpercalia" is about the ancient Roman festival, " Iduna" is about the Norse deity, and "Adam Lay Ybounden" and "Golden Apples" both concern the biblical narrative of the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

. Some songs are adaptations of older songs and melodies. "The Butterfly" is an old Irish melody, "Oyneng Yar" is an Uyghur song, "Polska Från Larsson" is an old Swedish folk melody and "Ynis Avalach" is an old Celtic melody. "

Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

" stands out because it deals with the conflict between nature and modern society and not paganism directly. "The Market Song" is about the fairs and markets that have been arranged through the centuries and function as meeting places where cultures meet and ideas flow and is dedicated to the arrangers of

Faerieworlds Faerieworlds is an annual music and arts festival currently held annually in the U.S. state of Oregon. The festival's primary theme is the "realm of the faerie". As of 2015, the festival moved to Hornings Hideout near Portland after many recent ...

Castlefest Castlefest is a medieval/fantasy festival in the Netherlands, held in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof in Lisse since 2005. History During the first edition in 2005, 3,500 visitors attended the event, in 2007 the festival attracted 16,000 visito ...

, Festival Mediaval,

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, neo-cl ...

and Mittelalterlich Spectaculum. The song incorporates elements from the traditional English song "Copshawholme Fair". The songs are heavily elaborated in the album sleeve where every song has accompanying lyrics, notes and imagery. The graphics for the sleeve and booklet were produced by English fantasy illustrator Brian Froud. Some songs are referenced with poetry: Heinrich von Kleist in "Zeitgeist",

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as ''The Reluctant Dragon (short story), T ...

in "Hymn to Pan",

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

and

Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. Biography Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...

in "Pearl", excerpts from the

Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poem ...

in "Polska Från Larsson" and finally Sir Arthur Eddington and

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

in "Golden Apples".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Faun (band) albums Celtic folk albums