Exclusive 'In Elven Lands' Track Preview & Art - Xoanon @ 12:36 PST

Carvin writes: Attached, I'm sending you a fourth and final track for you to review from the Voiceprint Records (UK) release "In Elven Lands."

This is our setting of the "Song of Durin" that Gimli sings in Moria. As with much of the album, the harmonies are based on the ancient pythagorean principal of "Organum" which predates chordal harmonies by at least two thousand years. The rhythm is derived from Tolkien's lyrics.

This is one of two instrumental versions of settings of Tolkien's lyrics. While many of the songs on "In Elven Lands" began as settings of Tolkien's lyrics, a few were left without replacement lyrics, since any attempt to out-tolkien Tolkien on these songs seemed ludicrous. Due to copyright reasons, we were not allowed to use Tolkien's lyrics in our recording.

This recording features myself on ancient corneto, crumhorn, slide trumpets and harp, as well as the modern bass clarinet and oboe. David Uebersax played the sackbutt (a kind of early trombone), Patrick Delaney played drums and Caitlin Elizabeth played cello.

Listen to 'When Durin Woke' now!

Also, here is a .jpg of a piece of the concept art for the upcoming Voiceprint Records (UK) Release, "In Elven Lands." A flat (2D) version of the art ended up on the album. These illuminated pages are lyrics from the songs "Tir Im" and "Verses to Elbereth Gilthoniel." The "Elbereth" page features an illustration of the "Sicle of the Valar" while the "Tir Im" page shows the Misty Mountains with Caradhras in the middle.

Concept art was used to remind the performers to maintain an "ancient music" performance style throughout the recording process. The performers for "In Elven Lands" came from such diverse backgrounds as World Music, Progressive Rock, Film Composition, Early Music and Punk Rock.