Maria W Horn & Sara Parkman - Funeral Folk

Childhood friends, Maria W Horn and Sara Parkman, join forces for this latest long player on xKatedral, the label Horn co-runs with Kali Malone. xKatedral's signature sound is one very much informed by its founders - monolithic drone-based harmonics with a penchant for the darkness - which makes Parkman's presence all the more notable. Parkman's own work generally leans towards traditional Swedish folk, an approach brought to the fore on the instructively titled Funeral Folk. The conceptual study of rituals and cultural mores surrounding grief and death are given the perfect vehicle: the dense arrangements of Horn's predilection for drone and, sometimes, black metal suggest trauma in obvious (not predictable) ways, and Parkman's folk song arrangements seem to reflect the ceremonies (and sometimes celebrations of life) that might be held as part of the mourning process. It makes for a deeply nuanced experience that feels like a crucial addition to the xKatedral catalogue, expanding its range a little further out by drawing on the histories and cultures of its native land. The music that Horn and her associates make is often understood as minimalist, and though similar techniques are employed, Funeral Folk somehow feels maximalist, a swirling unfolding of sorrow, mourning, and then at its conclusion, some kind of redemptive peace.