Whilst end of year ‘Best of…’ lists and the more official music awards are all subjective, they do have their uses for finding those gems that we’ve otherwise missed out on - and we will be doing our own between Christmas and New Year. So i was delighted that I came across the Danish Music Awards Folk 2015 and the recognition to ‘Dreamers Circus’ for their 2nd album which is entitled ‘Second Movement’.
I’ve been listening to this album for 2 weeks now , and it is quite simply sensational. The set up is based around violin, cittern and piano (or accordion), and they’ve been active since 2009 when the band met in a pub jamming session. The music is a beautiful blend of traditional folk infused with classical music from throughout the ages – I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I’d suggest pure classical, romantic and modern influences.
The album opens with 'Folkrotsvalsen', the most folk based track before it evolves slowly through moments of sublime subtlety ('Sofastykket'), the brilliant violin virtuoso in ‘Prelude to the Sun’, and the gorgeous piano tune in ‘August’, which even mildly reminds me of the beautiful Andante in Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto. There are so many exceptional moments that an ‘In Short’ review can’t allow credit for, but Second Movement is truly an outstanding album which has quite rightly scooped awards already, and leaves me in a late quandary of our own NMR favourite ‘Album of the Year’.
Nordic Music Review 9/10