I’m not entirely sure how I found my way to the dungeon synth genre (abbreviated moving forward as DS). I think it was via Lich Lord – I know him from his punk bands, so I figured I’d check out his dungeon synth chiptune side project. It opened my eyes to this small but growing genre, one that is a little hard to pin down sonically. Yes there are ties to black metal, but also ambient and folk. When I think about dungeon synth I envision songs that could soundtrack a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. I’m sure some would recoil at that description, but it leaves a lot of room stylistically – songs can be brooding or triumphant, atmospheric or vocal, conjure up images of a sunny glade or the darkest, dampest underground cavern. Compositions can be minimal or dense or anything in between. A few artists, such as the soon-to-be-reviewed Psychic Hood, even take the genre into space,
When I was first exploring the genre I discovered the wonderful Dungeon Synth Zine and immediately splurged, buying a complete run of issues. The interviews are important in documenting the history of the scene, which dates back to the 1990s, and to me they were also inspirational when I finally picked up a MIDI keyboard and began trying to make my own dungeon synth music. Issue #9 arrived in the mail about a month ago, chock full of interviews, reviews, and musings on the genre, another worthy contribution to the dungeon synth community.
Dungeon Synth Zine is also a label. The first three projects were limited edition (50 copies each) cassette re-releases of early 1990s albums by Jim Kirkwood, who is often credited as one of the progenitors of the genre. The most recent addition to the catalogue, which arrived in the mail at the same time as Issue #9 of the zine, is Nest’s Both Men And Wild Beasts Listened To The Harper In The Glade / Live In Poland cassette, a live recording from the 2017 Temple of Silence Festival in Ostrów. Like the Kirkwood tapes, this is a very limited edition with only 40 copies produced.
The first thing that struck me after hitting play was the sound quality. Not only is it clean, but the recording also captures the performance space – you can feel the presence of stone walls, the echo of the kantele string vibratons as they float upwards before being reflected and sent in different directions by the acoustics of the room. The compositions feel as though they would have been perfectly at home in a medieval court, a sad refrain telling a tale of the sense of loss, not so much a tragedy but more a remembrance of those who are no longer here to share the world of the living with us. It is somehow celebratory and mournful at the same time. The music is delicate but firm, carrying an intentionality and structure that lets you know there is a story being shared here, but one told with feelings and sensations instead of words.
I’m very impressed with Both Men And Wild Beasts Listened To The Harper In The Glade / Live In Poland. The artist and label partnered to give us a beautiful artifact of a performance that was thankfully recorded and saved for posterity. It’s probably going to be a tough one to track down, but well worth it if you can find a copy. As for me, I’m already looking for other Nest releases to add to my collection.