Erewän is a French artist who offers a fresh and personal sound, far from labels that enclose at its core Folk, Prog Rock, and Celtic music. After having recorded some Demos and having performed live in several concerts thanks to the meeting with Alexandre Lamia, he started working on his debut album. Entitled “How Will All This End?” out December 10, 2021 via Anesthetize Records, it contains 9 tracks with his personal style. In addition to Alexandre Lamia on lead guitar as another guest we find Eric Bouillette on violin. The album opens with “Rising sun on the Shore” delicate and dreamy atmospheres, very intense with intertwining traditional instruments and the lead guitar. A track that immediately plunges us into the pleasant musical world of the album, so let the journey begin. In “Childhoods” we find Alexander’s first intervention and we begin to discover Erewän‘s voice, the sound matrix is Folk Rock with a more pressing rhythm than the previous one. The electric guitar ties in well with the structure of the song and the song is engaging, elaborate yet accessible, with melodies that appeal to the listener. The tempo changes are an added value, passing with ease from Rock to Folk and increasing the intensity with the passing of the minutes. The following “Walk Away” presents a theme that is always very current, a warning that behaviors that hurt others can backfire. With symphonic features and a warning vocal, and the guitar that is the protagonist with accurate and precise interventions. The artist is skilled in creating touching atmospheres that are easy to grasp on the listener, with lyrics full of meaning. “Headline” has a more melancholy and touching character, which deals with a topic as topical as ever such as bullying and school violence and everything negative revolves around these behaviors. Intense and full of references that we often hear in the news, told with a sentiment and pathos that are useful for making people reflect on what today’s kids are experiencing. The music is very charged with emotion that for all the more than 7 minutes kept my attention at the maximum, up to the shocking noise of the gunshots. The quality of the narration of this story is of a high level as well as the passages that follow one another enhance the subject matter, a passage full of strong emotions. We are in the middle of the album with “The Banshee’s Keening” which takes us into the territory of Folk, starting with the noises of voices in a tavern, and then giving life to an Irish story. Celtic music blends with Folk and with the personal traits that the artist manages to impress on his compositions. A more percussive rhythm session and a choral vocal with traditional instruments and sounds played with great attention to detail. In the second part it becomes a more reflexive and melancholic passage, and then closes with a crescendo ending. “Witches of the Middle-Ages” is a tale that begins with the sound of a burning fire and a dreamy atmosphere that takes us back to the medieval era. The story told here is about a young woman haunted by the Inquisition with a warm and expressive voice with melancholy features and delicate sounds. The Rock component leaves the necessary space for traditional music, allowing us to tell this sad page of European history that has struck the continent in the past. With “Twist of Fate” we return to sounds closer to 70s Folk Rock, but with slower and softer passages and textures, telling of loves that can sadly end. How fate can change the course of events, without being able to just adapt and accept that this is the case. Soft but intense track that involves and transports us with electric guitar inserts that add a more powerful touch to the sound, very beautiful. “Evil in Us” exceeds 8 minutes and is the longest track on the album, where the artist manages to express the evil that is inherent within us and which often manifests itself with its devastating effects. Music and lyrics are very poignant and with a poignant intensity for the themes dealt with, making us reflect on many negative aspects of certain behaviors guided by the devil that is in us and that we often cannot control. Strong impact given by both music and words, with solo electric guitar interventions that lead us to more Rock sounds that mix with more Folk ones with executive and compositional skill and technique. The album ends with “Highlands” which was attended by both Eric and Alexandre as guests, who after a more atmospheric and dreamy first part enters the middle of the song. The intensity increases and is transformed with more Rock characters, in a crescendo both musical and emotional that leads us to the conclusion, leaving us with excellent sensations and the pleasure of wanting to listen to this beautiful record again in the future. A real pleasure for me to be able to preview and review the works of these guys who always offer something new at every release. They have many ideas, always very fresh, well structured, important issues and each time it is a confirmation and an improvement over the previous ones. A value they have is to offer artists rich in technique and engaging ideas with different styles and influences that mix me giving life to high-level albums and projects. Lovers of Folk Prog sounds with hints of Celtic music will certainly be struck by this record release which confirms this reality as one of the most interesting on the European scene. A recommended listening, very intense from start to finish, we hope to be able to listen to still other works by this artist who has all the credentials to amaze us again in the future, congratulations.
Tracklist
01. Rising sun on the Shore
02. Childhoods
03. Walk Away
04. Headline
05. The Banshee’s Keening
06. Witches of the Middle-Ages
07. Twist of Fate
08. Evil in Us
09. Highlands
Lineup
Erewän / All Instruments and Vocal
Guests
Eric Bouillette / Violin on ”Highlands”
Alexandre Lamia / Guitar lead on ”Childhoods” & ”Highlands”