Of the Wand and the Moon - Sonnenheim (2005)

Of the Wand and the Moon is the ongoing neo folk/experimental project of Kim Larsen from Denmark. Since 1999 Kim’s work has appeared on numerous compilations, released several 7” records as well as four full length albums, his most recent and probably strongest is 2005’s, ‘Sonnenheim.’ However before Kim entered the neo folk world he was known for his lead guitar and composing skills in Dutch doom/death metalers, Saturnus (’91-’98). He’s also played with The Loveless, Blazing Eternity, Solanaceae and just last year he made his return to the metal world with funeral doom newbie’s, Black Wreath. A busy man, no doubt.

At any rate, for those that are not familiar with Kim’s music it usual features fast acoustic guitars, backing keyboards for additional atmosphere and Kim’s whispery lead vocals with occasionally a few additional instruments here and there. His music is sometimes lively and joyful sounding but at other times it can be as dismal as any Sol Invictus or Current 93 song. Furthermore his lyrics generally revolve around nature, Pagan religions and personal struggles.

The album opens with the ritualistic ambient piece, ‘Black Moth,’ which then goes into the upbeat and mighty catchy folk piece called, ‘Nithttime in Sonnenheim’ that features Andreas Ritter of Forseti on accordion and backing vocals. The album continues on with two more great folky pieces before ending up on, ‘My Black Faith,’ which is my personal favorite of the album. In a way it’s the basic Of the Wand and the Moon styled song, but it has a very epic structure and great lyrics to it that I absolutely adore. Continuing on the album mostly stays in the dark folk vein and only strays on, ‘Camouflage,’ ‘Lieblos Bis Zur Dunkelheit’ and ‘I Shall Feast,’ which are more ambient/ritualistic/experimental songs. Finally after thirteen wonderful songs the album nears its end with, ‘Winter Solstice’ that again has a beautifully epic atmosphere to it.

In general Sonnenheim didn’t bring many new features into Of the Wand and the Moon, (save for the accordion) but you could simply say Kim perfected his craft with this release. All of the songs are very good; with catchy melodies and fantastic musicianship and in the nearly five years it’s been since its release it’s proven time and time again to be one of my favorite neo folk releases.

---

Additionally I’ll rip open the Lunar Hypnosis vault once again and present you with a brief but informative interview I did with Kim on February 12, 2004. Enjoy

J.M.: Greetings Kim. Why don't we start off by having you tell our readers about the formation of the band, your music style, and anything else you fell we should know.
Kim Larsen: I started out in the doom/gothic band 'Saturnus' as guitarist and composer. While playing with them I heard the Current 93 album 'Thunder Perfect Mind' and felt that this was the music I had been looking for. The other members didn’t have that big interest in this genre as I did, which eventually made it important for me to do :OTWATM: on my own. Also to get that certain purity to the music I was/am so fond of.

J: What does ‘Of the Wand & the Moon’ mean, and why did you choose this name?
KL: The wand represents the Magick, the music, art and the moon represents the inspiration of the night-time. The wand is also the masculine representation and the moon the feminine... Well, there are a few approaches towards this.

J: What’s a typical live show from the band like? Is there a certain feeling you hope to achieve or do you just go out and play? Also will there ever be a live release from the band?
KL: Hopefully we deliver some kind of essence to people when we play live... Something pure and authentic. Hard to explain.

J: Speaking of live shows if I'm not mistaken the bands played with some more famous neo folk bands. I thought I remember reading that you had a gig with Sol Invictus a while back. If so what was this like and what type of person is Tony Wakeford?
KL: Well, the show you are talking about was actually the debut concert for :OTWATM:, so it was really nice to play with a fine musicians as Tony, Matt & Dorothy. I don´t recall sharing many words with Tony. He was also quite ill at the concert so... But I’ll have the chance to say hi to him again here in Denmark in April, the 17th to be exact, where :OTWATM: will be playing support for his band in Kolding.

J: Something I've been wondering for awhile now is what made you, Brain, and Jesper leave Saturnus? Was there some sort of argument within the band or did you just get tired of playing that type of music?
KL: There were quite a few different problems with that band. It’s a long story with lots of incidents so I’ll try to make it short. Firstly the lead singer stole a rather large amount of money from the band, money we had borrowed from our record label to go on a small 3-day tour with Moonspell. Unfortunately we gave him the money after the tour to give to our label. It was not until we were at a meeting at their office 3 months later that they asked where the money was. On top of that our singer hadn’t paid his part of the rent for our rehearsal room. So that evidentially also sucked an amount out of the bands funds.

I also had a problem with not being able to get credit for the work I did for them on the albums. I composed all the music for them plus did 99% of the lyrics on the last 2 releases, but they could only let me have credit for the lyrics. It wasn´t a money issue, just plain credit on the albums. Then the last straw for me was when we did 3 shows in Belgium, where I got a nasty ear ache when I got back, due to a cold, because of the lousy conditions of the bus we were driving (one window couldn’t close properly), and we had to do a show in Belgium a week or 2 after, and I had to cancel.

Then I began to hear a lot of shit behind my back and then I finally had it, so I left. Later Brian & Jesper gave me a call and asked me if I would come back to Saturnus in order to throw the other ass wipes out but I’d rather go on with some music in a different direction and under a new name, which became The Loveless. As an addition I was also tired of the lack of engagement in Saturnus, it was far more satisfying for them to do nothing instead of working for the progression of the music. The 'fame', money and prestige was more important for them.

J: I'm curious to know how you got into neo folk music? It seems to be a genre of music that's really kept secret, but in my opinion is some of the best music I've ever heard. Bands like Sol Invictus, Current 93, Death in June, and well Of the Wand & the Moon are amongst some of most amazing bands I've ever heard. What was the first neo folk band you heard and who are some of your favorites these days?
KL: As I mentioned previously, Current 93´s 'Thunder Perfect Mind' was the first thing I ever heard in this genre, and it blew me away. Nowadays I think that Death In June is my all time favorite band. Douglas P., among others has inspired me immensely. It was also a moment to remember when :OTWATM: played a warm up show for Death In June here in Copenhagen recently. Also to exchange a few words in person after years of mail correspondence.

J: Now what about religion? I'm guessing you’re into some type of older pre-Christian religion like Paganism or Asatru. But then again having the new album titled ‘Lucifer’ makes me wonder.
KL: I feel drawn to the runes. It feels quite natural, as it is part of my heritage. My girlfriend and I sometimes join an Asatru group here in Copenhagen at the Solstice feasts they arrange. But at some point I don´t feel quite home in a group of people or associations. But I’ll take the Asatru/Paganism before Christianity any day. Christianity has nothing to do with my culture or where I’m coming from, as well as Islam and what have you. Fortunately Asatru religion has been 'acknowledged' as a religion here in Denmark, so that people can get married and buried by a 'pagan' priest legally now. Better late than never....

J: You play in a few other bands besides (Blazing Eternity, The Loveless, Sonne Hagal, and Unveiled). Can you tell our readers a little more about these bands and the style of music you play with them?
KL: Blazing Eternity started out playing black metal, but nowadays it’s more dark rock/metal. Saturnus and Blazing rehearsed in the same building, and after a while we became friends and drinking partners. Well, one thing leads to another and I joined as a session guitarist and helped them out when they played live and a bit in the studio. Morten, the guitar player (and singer these days), also plays in :OTWATM: at live shows. Recently I had to part from them due to my work in :OTWATM:.

The Loveless was formed on the ruins of Saturnus, and the music was, as in Saturnus, written by myself. The style is dark rock...the best I can explain it.... We did the debut album 'Star Rover' in May 2002, recorded in the Sweet Silence Studios, produced by Flemming Rasmussen the Metallica producer. Unfortunately Brian & Jesper got the 'Saturnus syndrome' and left due to disputes about who made the music, and who should get credits etc., the same old song. Again it wasn’t about the money, but about prestige and hurt pride. Tried to tell them, that just because Ringo Starr played on a song by The Beatles, didn´t mean that he wrote it. But little did it work, and I had no intentions of repeating the Saturnus story again, so.... Nevertheless I have already done about 5 new songs for the 'The Loveless' project so hopefully there will be something out in 2005.

As for Sonne Hagal, I met Oliver, the front figure of SH, in Glachau/Germany while doing a tour with :OTWATM:. As he’s a good friend of/and playing with Forseti, he was there and we began to talk and one thing led to another. So I helped him out with a song that I did the music for. He also helped me out with some recordings for my new album 'Sonnenheim', and so did Andreas Ritter from Forseti. As a side note, I wish I’d live closer to these 2 guys, as I really feel they´re long lost friends and at some point we have known each other in some foreign life.

Unveiled is a project from a Danish guy called Hansen and I helped him out with a bit of vocals for his project.

J: You have a few vinyl releases and I'm wondering will these ever be released on CD or maybe in a vinyl box set together?
KL: A vinyl box set is being put together at the moment containing the 3 first albums (Nighttime Nightrhymes - :Emptiness:Emptiness:Emptiness: & Lucifer) plus an extra CD with live material and rare tracks that was released on vinyl. It should be out shortly on Prophecy Productions. I have also plans of re-releasing the 'Midnight Will' 10" EP on CD, perhaps in some slight different versions plus bonus material, on my own label 'Heiðrunar|Myrkrunar' and distributed via Tesco.

J: Your lyrics are very depressive, but I like them because its something I can totally relate to. Can you explain some of the lyrics and what they mean to you?
KL: I like to keep the mystery alive with not explaining too much about them so I hope you’ll understand.

J: The cover artwork for the 'Lucifer' cd is kind of strange. I guess that's a cat on the front of the cover? How come you used this cover artwork?
KL: I work intuitive in these matters. The title was taken from the song by the same name. The picture was taken by Jesper (The Loveless) of his cat licking his shirt. Just thought it was a really weird picture. Funny and a bit eerie at the same time, and it went well to the title of the album. Don´t know if you know but I was (like almost everyone in the neo folk genre) accused of being a nazi by some German left wing people some time ago, and I thought that if I already had 'provoked' these left wing people why not have the Christians at me as well. Henceforth the title also....:)

J: I know your currently working on the new album so I'm curious to know does the new material sound similar to the past albums or are you doing something different with this album? Will the same session musicians be used or have you recruited some new people? Finally do you have any idea when the new album will be released?
KL: Yes I am indeed working on a new album, which will be titled 'Sonnenheim'. I really hope to have it out this year on my label 'Heiðrunar|Myrkrunar' and distributed by Tesco. Hopefully it will be out soon, as I can’t wait to present it to people. The stuff already sounds great. At the moment I have about 25 songs to choose from. For this album I was helped on some tracks by Andreas (Forseti) & Oliver (Sonne Hagal). At the moment Albin Julius (Der Blutharsch) is also adding stuff for some tracks. I also hope that Matt Howden will be adding strings too at some point when the songs are about to be finished. Niels Rønne (Swimwear Catalogue) from my live staff has also helped me out a lot in technical matters. I Think there also will be more guests on it, but it is still a bit uncertain... I think lyric-wise the album will be a bit more aggressive and outgoing, (as outgoing as an introvert person as myself can get), than the previous albums... But we´ll see.

J: Do you feel Prophecy productions are the perfect label for the band? How have things been going with this label thus far?
KL: Things have been going well with Euphonious rec and Prophecy so far I think. Just thought of having a change with starting my own label and see what happens. Maybe I´ll release something with them again. Who knows...

J: Are any 'Of the wand & the moon' t-shirts going to produced in the near future?
KL: T-Shirts as already been produced by Prophecy Productions so... Maybe I’ll do some myself some day. We’ll see.

J: Aside from creating music what other hobbies and interests do you have?
KL: Aside from the music, which takes up most of my time, I spend my time with my girlfriend, watch movies, read books, sometimes play PC games such as 'Thief 1+2' or 'Baldurs Gate'...

J: Well I know hard at work with the new material so I don't want to waste any more of your time. The final words are yours and I wish you the best of luck with all your future musical endeavors. Take care.
KL: :HAIL HAIL HAIL - THESE RUNES THEY WILL PREVAIL - IF NOTHING ELSE:
Have a splendid 2004
Yours,
-Kim Larsen