''Förbundet'' (in English ''The Federation'') is the seventh studio album by the Swedish

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band

Garmarna Garmarna is a Swedish folk rock band. Their songs are mainly old Scandinavian ballads. Biography Garmarna was founded in 1990. Stefan Brisland-Ferner, Gotte Ringqvist and Rickard Westman were inspired by old Swedish music, which they had hear ...

. Released in 2020, it is their first album on the

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...

label. Unlike the previous album '' 6'' and similar to albums before that, ''Förbundet'' is again dominated by traditional instruments, melodies and lyrics, although there are still numerous electronic influences. These were added in cooperation with Christopher Juul of

Heilung Heilung is a European experimental folk music band. Formed in 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the group is made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Their music is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic peoples of the Iron A ...

who also produced the album. Most tracks tell sinister folklore stories but the album includes two original titles written entirely by Garmarna.

Anders Norudde Anders Norudde (born Anders Stake, 1960) is a Sweden, Swedish folk music, folk musician, multi-instrumentalist, and luthier. After finishing school, Anders took a job at the ironworks in Degerfors, where, in his spare time, he practiced orienteer ...

Hedningarna Hedningarna (''The Heathens'') is a Swedish, and for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami people, Sa ...

, Maria Franz of Heilung and Swedish folk singer Ulf Gruvberg appear as guest musicians.

Themes

The album focuses on dark folklore and on themes like departure, jealousy, old age, longing and tristesse. E.g. the first track and first single of the album references the fierce warrior Ramunder who, according to the band, "likes to smite his enemies out of pure joy."

Reception

''Förbundet'' received mostly favourable professional reviews. ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

'' Portugal praised the work of lead singer

Emma Härdelin Emma Härdelin (born 26 September 1975) is a Swedish musician. She is a violinist and lead singer in folk-rock band Garmarna,Dupont, Linn.Tystnaden gav Garmarna ett nytt sound (in Swedish), Helsingborgs Dagblad, November 27, 2017. which she join ...

and wrote that the album likened releases by

Liz Fraser Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of b ...

and the

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

. According to their reviewer, "''Förbundet'' comes at a time when we most need shamanic rhythms in a call to unite the tribes." The

Sonic Seducer ''Sonic Seducer'' is a German music magazine that covers gothic rock, new wave, EBM and other kinds of electronic music and culture. The magazine is noted for organizing the annual M'era Luna Festival. Since its inception in 1994, the ''Sonic ...

stated that the album constantly displayed a high artistic level in a musical mix that was unique to Garmarna. The Swedish ''Lira'' magazine called ''Förbundet'' the best Garmarna album since ''

Guds spelemän ''Guds spelemän'' is Garmarna's second full-length album, released in 1996. All songs except "Njaalkeme" (which is in Southern Sami) are sung in Swedish. Reception The reviewer for AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide ...

'' (1996) and also mentioned Garmarna's "unique signature". ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

'', however, wrote that Garmana had lost their orientation on an album that was "clinically devoid of warmth".

Track listing

There are nine tracks on this album most of which are adaptations of traditional themes.

Personnel

Apart from the core members of Garmarna, ''Förbundet'' was recorded together with three guest musicians.

Music

;Garmarna * Emma Härdelin: vocals, violin * Stefan Brisland-Ferner: violin, viola,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, Nordic bowed harp,

moraharpa The moraharpa is a modern name for an early predecessor of the nyckelharpa keyed fiddle; the primary example instrument dated 1526, was found in Mora, Sweden. A number of modern reproductions of the original moraharpa have been made since the 198 ...

kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the southeast Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokles, t ...

, guitar, electronics, vocals * Gotte Ringqvist: acoustic guitars,

Hardanger fiddle A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...

, vocals * Rickard Westman: guitar, bass * Jens Höglin: drums, electronics ;Guests * Anders Norudde: moraharpa * Maria Franz: vocals * Ulf Gruvberg: vocals

Production

* Stefan Brisland-Ferner * Christopher Juul

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Garmarna albums 2020s Swedish-language albums