Yule Song: The Darkness

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As yet another new season comes around, it's time for another new song, this one with a Norse cultural focus. This started from the idea that while modern winters might feel fun as we stay safe and warm inside well-insulated homes celebrating with friends and family, for our ancestors there was always a fear lurking in the back of their minds: What if the world doesn't warm up again? What if next year's crop fails? What if I get caught outside in -20C weather? What if the sun doesn't come back after the long night, as foretold in Vafþrúðnismál? That sense of mortal peril is built into the season just as surely as fir trees and holly berries.

So while the early part of winter is still a good time for feasting, because we still have plenty of food from the harvest just a couple months ago, it's a feast with the feeling it might be our last. We're safe, for now, because of the protection of our people, our spiritual allies, the aesir and vanir, and ultimately our hearth fire, and now is the time we need them the most.

Musically, the strange harmonies and melodic line are intended to add to the sense of unease. The E major and G major chords are decidedly not in the D minor key, and the G-sharp and B-natural notes that go with them also don't fit, and yet there they are.

All works are copyright by yours truly, but may be distributed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 4.0. That means, in short, you can use them yourself and your grove, and play the song to your heart's content both in private and in public, but must give credit where credit is due, and if you're planning on selling something involving this song we need to talk about that first.

Sheet Music

The Darkness

Recording

The Darkness



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