Towards the Within — Ulvetime (Hour of the Wolf)

Interestingly enough, the YouTube algorithm brought me back full circle on a music listening binge and decided that I probably had enough of that fancy and schmancy post-punk modern stuff in English and decided to point me back at something more along the lines of modern non-English folk with real instruments and minimal production on the overall sound.

Trigger warning: Song contains Northern European folk sounds that feel old enough to be tribal in essence. May contain ethnic instruments and little to no electronic music to sooth the transition.

Upon listening, I figured, who am I to argue with such a suggestion? Which brings me to Sonleikr’s Ulvetime. If you look at the song title with crossed eyes and think really hard to the Old Norse language course you started but never finished, you can pick out a translation: ulve (Danish) from ulfr (Old Norse) which obviously means “wolf”. And time (Danish) is equally obvious as “hour”.

I always knew you were clever.

Anyway, this song had come up in my personal video feed several months ago and I quite liked watching the woman play and sing, and might have been somewhat inspired to take out the mandola to see if I could create something similar, but was subsequently distracted and forgot to save this song to my “liked” videos. That it came up again because I was chasing my next song in this series after The Eden House was a bit of a surprise as they are completely dissimilar, but I listened to it again and, by golly, still liked this song — so I felt compelled to share it with you.

The interesting thing I discovered while looking into the artists was that I already knew one of the musicians. Only, I hadn’t recognized them as being Maria Franz — probably because I am more used to seeing Maria with her Heilung costume.

While caught a little on my back foot, I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear her as another identity. I always thought Maria seemed like a person I wouldn’t mind knowing as a friend based on a handful of interviews. She seems like a decent person.

In the original (Google says Norwegian, another site says Danish) here is a snippet of the song’s lyrics:

Jeg kan ikke hvile.
I min ulvetime.
Over alt.
 
Rolig kjære hjerte.
Du bør snart ha lært det.
Nådeløst.

And Google’s translation:

I can't rest.
In my wolf hour.
Everywhere.

Calm down dear heart.
You should have learned soon.
Merciless.

This one really grabs my mood the past few days. I wish I could explain where my head is at, but I cannot. Or will not. Suffice it to say, then, this capture my mood.

Thanks to everyone who listens to this odd collection of songs that represent a labyrinth leading to the center. Of what? Well, we’ll have to let you know when we arrive.

Don’t forget, you can check out my playlist for songs in this series on my YouTube channel at Towards the Within.