A Walk Amidst The Cairns (2021)
It was purely coincidentally that I came in touch with some friendly guy called André and a new project he started, called Landstrykar. …doesn’t matter how we ‘met’, but I was truly intrigued by what I heard. I’ll start with a small introduction.
Apparently, Landstrykar is a young project from Dutch soil, formed to canalise this guy’s passion for atmospheric / epic Music with a huge dose of Fantasy, as well as symphonic movie and game soundtracks. If I am not mistaken, this album, called A Walk Amidst The Cairns, is the official debut. The album was finished in early Spring this year after more than one year of recording / mixing, and eventually released after some (permanently) updates and improvements, since the mastermind behind it could live with the result. Well, let’s say that the result indeed is more than acceptable when it comes to song-writing, performance and sound. But I will come back to this immediately.
So, A Walk Amidst The Cairns is a collection of nine hymns, clocking about sixty-six minutes (!). Indeed, this album brings more than one hour of Aural Art. The project did release this stuff via the contemporary digital sources (Bandcamp), evidently, but there is a compact disc version too, being a six-panel digipack edition (hand-numbered, by the way), designed by both the project and visual art company Wappenschmied (also responsible for the logo, for instance). Sources of inspiration are, besides higher mentioned electronic / symphonic / fantasy-oriented sonic influences, the Northern nature (the cover picture, by the way, was taken in Norway), and the artwork, as well as the album’s title, do surely fit to this concept and so is the aural execution of A Walk Amidst The Cairns. Or, as referred to in the (official) biography, and I’ll quote, ‘this album forms a soundtrack to wanderings in northern nature that will guide the listener over majestic mountains through mysterious forests, and along grand fjords, evoking wanderlust, in still wonderment and admiration for the mysteriousness and grandeur of nature, and nostalgia and longing to return to beautiful places once visited’. Believe me: this fits to the sonic content for sure!
The album opens with the short piece (2:37 in length, and therefor the only one that clocks less than five minutes) Dawn Of A New Journey, preparing us for a brave quest through secret forests, rough landscapes not yet explores, and misty valleys where ancient spirits dwell. It does set the tone for the whole album, going for composition and atmosphere. Several levels of dreamlike, gloomy, even epic synths are canalised into one mighty overwhelming melodic structure, based on different keyboard levels. There are permanently new melodies joining the epic, growing and expanding with conviction as well as integrity. All this gets joined by fine drum- and cymbal-work, pride yet down-earthed.
And so this album continues. The keyboard lines – as said, there is a permanent interplay of different layers – are quite varied. Calm, slowly-floating and symphonic passages interact organically well with some rather bombastic symphonies, then again evolving into victorious, valiant excerpts. You hear, and therefor you feel, the adventurous story-telling; no words are needed to march along with mystic creatures, heroic figures or magic spirits through the woods. In a very natural way, things evolve and increase, then again everything seems to fade away, slowly, step by step, before returning to an undeniable level of undauntedness, of valour, of perseverance. Once in a while, it takes over the sound of flutes, piano or strings, always at the right moment to focus on the essence of the story, the event during this quest. Of non-deniable importance too are the additional percussions: martial drums, victorious battle drums (sometimes deeply inspired by acts like Summoning indeed), modest percussions whatsoever. There are even chimes, wind-bells and cymbals involved. Also the few samples (birds, rain, thunder) are meticulously used when necessary. And in a piece like Embers & Moonlight, Landstrykar make use of acoustic guitar as well. It has something Nature Folk-oriented (not Neo-Folk or Sad Folk wise), a sombre yet somehow refreshing approach inclusive, serene at first, rather uplifting towards the end.
A Walk Amidst The Cairns stands for an adventurous-atmospheric mixture of Symphonic Music, Dungeon Synth, Epic Ambient and Dark Orchestra, balancing in between both darkening and enlightening spheres, abundant in song-writing, ardent in execution.
- Ivan Tibos, september 2021
One André Kramer is hiding behind Landstrykar. A Dutchman. I don't know him, but he makes beautiful music. Music collected on an album of dungeon synth called A Walk Amidst The Cairns. This is his debut. The album is a musical representation of walks through northern landscapes, according to the creator of this work. Looking at the album cover, he will not mean the northern Netherlands. By the way, that cover is the least attractive thing about this album, especially because the logo doesn't fit well in the photo. As if they are two different images.
Orchestral and epic are the keywords according to Landstrykar, but Wanderlust makes the birds whistle cheerfully, which immediately creates a pastoral atmosphere. It is music that aims to translate the wonder of nature into epic keyboard ambience. How does that happen? Quite 'wow'! It does indeed feel like a walk on narrow mountain paths and over windswept peaks. The landscape changes undulating, gently, or sometimes suddenly with a view of an impressive row of snow-capped peaks, a wide lake, or green valleys. Wind players are used to conjure up truly epic vistas. In the case of Majestic Mountain Views, it is the choral singing that is allowed to bring epic in an elven way. There is a moment of pause at such amazement, only to be set in motion again by means of the rhythm section. On Realms of Ancient Giants, the rhythms are reproduced as you can hear with Summoning, the sound of drums in the depths. Path of Perseverance sounds like a fairly monotonous walk, and therefore comes off as slightly less epic. The title track works with the addition of new melody all the time and so the song continues to grow.
An album that wouldn't have looked out of place with landscapes from an epic film like Lord of the Rings or an epic game like Skyrim. In terms of complexity it may not yet reach that level, but in terms of atmosphere Landstrykar knows perfectly how to evoke images with atmospheric music. A debut that you should definitely listen to if you like soundtrack/dungeon synth.
Score: 80/100
- Henri Dypfrys, december 2021
Okay, how do I describe this? A knight who is on this spiritual journey to find himself. It’s quite a task that the young hero has taken by meeting these strange people and embarking on a challenge that is bigger than he’s envisioned. And with incredible medieval-like synth music from the realms of Landstrykar, its quite the adventure that awaits us.
The project was formed last year by Andre Kramer during the beginning of that year in 2020 in the Netherlands who wanted to combine the passion between film, northern nature, video game soundtracks, and influences raging from Summoning, Vinterriket, Ildjarn (Hardangervidda), and Jim Kirkwood.
What Kramer has done with A Walk Amidst The Cairns is walking towards a mysterious admiration over the landscapes of nature that is brought to life. I wouldn’t compare to “dungeon-synth” music, but more like a walk through the various locations inside the kingdom, knowing that the struggles they have to endure.
There are some stronger elements between Philip Glass, The Enid’s first two albums, Hans Zimmer, Rick Wakeman, and John Williams. He takes listeners into these deep, dark cavernous locations filled with magic and mysticism that we haven’t seen before. I can imagine the album being used as an alternate score for Jim Henson’s 1982 cult classic, The Dark Crystal.
Believe me, I can really imagine this being played in full throughout the whole movie. You can feel the passion, beauty, and emotion that Jen fulfilling his prophecy to heal the Crystal by retrieving the shard from Aughra. It’s quite a visual story Landstrykar has released this year.
It isn’t just an epic instrumental album, but an imaginative visual movie brought to life with a killer score that awaits us. It’s always great to hear something powerful when you listen to A Walk Amidst The Cairns. While it sounds like a title that either Tolkien, C.S. Lawrence, or Brian Froud could have used, it would really get fantasy readers a lot of attention to hear an amazing title like that.
So if you plan to plop down in your bean bag chair, sitting next to the fire whilst reading stories from epic books you haven’t read for a long, long time, then Landstrykar’s A Walk Amidst The Cairns is the perfect choice of music you might want to put on from beginning, middle, and end.
- Zachary Nathanson, february 2022
Over an hours worth of well crafted, beautifully orchestrated music, ‘A Walk Amidst The Cairns’ is an epic release that transcends any genre. Even though it’s rooted in Dungeon Synth, these soothing tracks emit an energy of classical instrumentation and exuberant scenes of endless landscapes and peaceful times. This is the perfect album to have for filling the void of background ambience, or slipping away into a meditative bliss. This is top quality synth music and is highly recommended.
- David Loveless, june 2022