Konjuro’s Keep is the final post in my little Malfortune Discs tetrad.
Like the previously reviewed Frogzard, Konjuro’s Keep is another project by Andrew Oliver of Chaucerian Myth fame. Also similar is the style, with a very video-game-soundtrack feel, which is only amplified by the 8-bit-ish blocky image of a knight on the cover. The progressions are intentionally simple, though the combination of tonal beds with minimal changes overlaid with with different MIDI instrument choices on tracks like “The Castle’s Curse” give the songs more life than expected. “Mongoose” adds a playful xylophone to the MIDI violin and simple synth beat to further layer the sound, providing surprising depth to what is an intentionally basic approach to music making.
Konjuro’s Keep achieves its greatest depth on “Over a Boiling Lake of Lava”, the lute-like strings and medieval-style organ proving the feel of being in court, sitting in a room that smells of old stone and wood fires where people in ornate yet still slightly shabby clothes sip wine from goblets, whispered conversations murmuring under the music. It feels like what I imagine it was like… something that of course is probably more based on movie and video games and novels than any true reality.
Konjuro’s Keep is available digitally on Bandcamp HERE. As of the time of writing there is a CDr copy on Discogs for sale as well for the bargain price of $4, so if you want it, you probably should grab it now.