Bone Woman - Pagan Songs From The Circle

Bone Woman is the musical project of Norwegian witch Lene Janzon who on Pagan Songs From The Circle fuse the power of the old ways together with the new blood of witchcraft. It's an extremely accomplished release of ritual chants, poems and pagan and folk songs. Of particular interest to Compulsion online readers is Bone Woman's musical interpretation of poems from Aleister Crowley and a few cuts from Robin Hardy's and Anthony Shaffers cult movie The Wicker Man. It appears that 'Willow's Song' is now a staple part of folk-noir repertoire. The folk songs are based on witchy things. 'The Burning Times' is a rendition of American folk singer Charlie Murphy's tale about the Witch trials, while there are a number of tracks originally written by Carolyn Hiller. Bone Woman provide musical settings for 'The Pentagram' and 'Hymn To Pan'. The musicianship is first rate featuring flute, guitar and percussion, and Lene Janzon has a pure strong voice. There's no sinister undertones and even the the unbearable 'Lord of the Dance' (recalls my childhood sunday school, uh) doesn't appear too out of context, capturing the fun and frolics of a ritual event. Songs from the Circle is clearly in the magical traditon but will have immediate appeal to those with a penchant for medieval, folk musics. For more information go to www.eutopia.no/