Var Det Du Var Det Deg Was It You Or Was It You

This Norwegian-Scottish duo (plus a few guests) covers a lot of territory on this album. There's a lush, new age sound to some tracks, like "Jostadalsbreen," which sound like soundtracks (given multi-instrumentalist Ian Melrose's role in Clannad, this tack perhaps isn't too surprising), to something much rawer, where Kerstin Blodig indulges herself in some very Norwegian mouth music. For the most part it's a very acoustic album with some excellent guitar playing and a feel that sways between Celtic and Norwegian (and the Norwegian is much more interesting) from track to track. There's no doubting the quality of much of the music, both performance and composition. The interesting question is what kind of audience it might attract. It's too rootsy for the new age crowd, certainly in parts, and other parts are too glossy to appeal to folkies. It's good in its own way, but ends up seeming like too much of a mixed bag to be fully successful. ~ Chris Nickson|