We're in trouble... what the hell is this again? Burzum Kingom by Merlina So Sad: we're not going to deny that the combination of Varg Vikernes and all the sad folklore that goes with him with the childlike, brightly-coloured artworks of Merlina So Sad was enough to catch our attention. But beyond the bright pink and cute characters, the music of this darkwave/ambient project from Ecuador is also worth a listen. Burzum Kingdom is an album of Burzum covers (with the exception of the first and last tracks) but with an electro /dungeon synth (obviously) / lo-fi twist.
Heresy? You only have to listen to Dunkelheit (also known by its English title Darkness), for example, to see that it isn't: the sinister synthesizers were already giving Burzum that distinctive melancholy tinge long before the man now known as Louis Cachet was killing time in prison with purely atmospheric experiments. Merlina So Sad takes a handful of tracks from Burzum's discography, including some very recent ones (A Thulean Perspective), and puts them through the mill of its synthetic melancholy... but also of a certain second degree.
We're not quite sure why Merlina So Sad is so fond of frogs, a recurring motif in her work, but their croaking sounds are already present on the title track: after all, what wonderful story doesn't contain its fair share of batrachians frolicking in a pond? The album takes on the air of a hallucinatory journey with strong narrative potential. You can appreciate both the gloomy, witch-house tones (Dunkelheit Chapter I) and the chiptune minimalism that turns the whole thing into the soundtrack to a depressing video game.
The pleasure is playful, the approach as much a tribute to the musical genius of the sad character as a parody, as if to create a certain distance. Hermodr A Helferd, originally a piano-only track, is adorned with a new-wave beat and a synthesised theremin from outer space, the very aggressive Ea, Lord of the Depths Chapter I becomes a kind of waltz with a ramshackle accordion, Dunkelheit Chapter II turns into chiptune aggrotech (imagine if the angriest tracks from Suicide Commando had been made on Game Boy)...
Merlina So Sad prend un malin plaisir à déconstruire et transgresser en mélangeant humour décalé et mélancolie fantomatique (il est facile d'imaginer des spectres se lamenter dans les nappes de synthé) avant de conclure sur une réjouissante marche entraînante, Welcome to the Burzum Kingdom, rencontre improbable entre un numéro de comédie musicale pour enfants et Burzum, concluant évidemment sur des hurlements de loup. Avec son traitement, l'artiste uni ainsi plusieurs époques de Burzum pour proposer un album qui fonctionne à la fois en tant que curiosité insolite que comme bande-son pour un périple fantasy retro-futuriste.
