STOP PRESS!!!

UK 2009 SONGWRITER COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS FOR 'LADY OF THE ISLES'

Welcome to the music of Serundal!

Although Serundal’s first album ‘Transitions’ was only released in 2006, to those who listen to their music everyday it must seem as if an infinite amount of time has passed.

Since that time eight full albums and an E.P have been released and all have been enthusiastically received worldwide. Of course the research, writing and re-writing to produce this music has been developing and growing for many years, and like a tender plant each song like a seed has been lovingly nurtured along the way until it was mature enough to face the all the elements of the outside world.

Maxie has been a published poet since the age of fifteen, and Serundal was first born through a combination of her ideas set in poetry and David’s musical creativity. Together, born of Scottish, English and Welsh ancestry they have managed to weave together what has been described as ‘a truly magical mix of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon storytelling traditions with the energy of 21st century musical arrangements’.

Their music has been described as ‘timeless’ ‘cinematic’ and ‘visual’ and since 2007, they have been a featured artist on www.ubl.com and through listeners votes their songs have scored highly in charts like www.songvault.fm (where Serundal was the first artist in the folk genre to have six tracks make it to the top on the songvault directory).

‘Incantation’ (Transitions 2006) and ‘Lady of the Isles’ (Waiting Rooms 2006) are some of the most played tracks in the folk genre on the web. Moonstone (2006) is also currently an editor’s pick at www.cdbaby.com.

Ab Initi (2006) is the first part of the trilogy ‘The Legend of Serundal’ which is a Celtic fantasy legend put to music.

'Leylines' (2007) the prequel to the trilogy has already had a great response:

Leylines review

author: Pete Brown

Serundal - CD - Leylines

(www.serundal.com)

'Leylines' by Serundal is the prequel to the story of the Legend of Serundal and is intended to promote the trilogy of albums on the theme of the legend and The Kingdom Of Roth, 'Ab Initi' being the first in the series. I'm impressed with 'Leylines' and I marvel at the creativity and productivity of Serundal and their beautiful visionary epic. Serundal's website tells of "A Celtic World of Music Poetry and Magic" - and, make no mistake, that's exactly what you get!

'Leylines' actualy feels more cohesive and generally more confident than 'Ab Initi' (and that was pretty damn impressive!!); there's a fantastic flow to this work; it drifts effortlessly along and seems to cradle you in its being. Superbly laid back but offering a warm place to go on a dark autumn's night, 'Leylines' is evocative, descriptive, at times haunting and at others, hypnotic. Everything's just so smooth and peaceful sounding - it's a wonderfully dreamy work that reminds me in parts of Mike Oldfield, in other parts Renaissance, then I hear Sonja Kristina, Sandy Denny, loads of famous names come to mind but actually it's all just Serundal! It's wonderful!!

Serundal have done a bloody good job with 'Leylines' - their story telling prequel to the trilogy is magnificent and as a stand-alone work it's equally as compelling and works just as it is. I don't know how long Serundal have taken to get this far but 'Leylines' feels as though an awful lot of heart and soul has been put into it; it's beautifully polished, it's maturely composed and performed, it's thoroughly entertaining and extremely enjoyable. Serundal should be very proud of what they've achieved here.

I really hope 'Leylines' does its job and Serundal can get their trilogy out there and accepted - it thoroughly deserves to be successful. 'Leylines' is a splendid piece of work and bodes well for the second and third release in their epic aural adventure. Great work, beautiful to behold, remarkably assured and relaxingly tantalising.

Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)

(Rhythm & Booze rating 10)

December 2008 'Dark Days White Knights is released!

This album based on Celtic magic and the legend of King Arthur is now available at www.cdbaby.com. Downloads will be available soon on appleItunes worldwide.

come join our friends on www.myspace.com/serundalmusic everybody's welcome!

Happy new year for 2009 to you all!

Review

Serundal - CD - Dark Days White Knights

'Dark Days White Knights' by Serundal explores the legend(s) of Arthurian England; if the minstrels of the day had had access to our electro-oriented instruments and sound systems, I can't help but feel that this is how music would have sounded in Arthur's court!

Once again the talented and historically knowledgeable Serundal have come up trumps with this expressive and descriptive album of nu-celtic folk music. Staying as true to legend as is possible, Serundal tell tales of exactly what it says on the cover, 'Dark Days White Knights'! Serundal have a knack of being able to capture 'time' within their stunning theatrical music; 'Dark Days White Knights' is 'traditional' folk music delivered through modern means and with complete understanding of both the ancient 'form' and current requirements.

Serundal capture the mood and ambience of Arthur's world; although wonderfully rich with sympathetic 'digital' sound there's always the underlying simplicity of by-gone musical sparsety and elegance. As I listen I feel transported back in time and yet I know, in my heart and head, that what I'm actually hearing is a beautifully crafted 'electronic' tapestry from right now and right here. And, Serundal should be congratulated for not falling into the trap of over-embellishment and/or over-production - it'd be all too easy to complicate and crowd the sound with simple touches of 'buttons' and 'keys' but Serundal (Maxie and David King) avoid that 'pitfall' by sticking to Arthurian 'reality' and simple 'old-fashioned' ambience.

'Dark Days White Knights' by Serundal captures a time in story-telling 'history' by perfectly melding their intelligent interpretation of legendary prose with seriously competent compositional skills - the result is quite fantastic and a breath of fresh air at a time when music of this nature and stature remains 'cultish' and often misunderstood. Long may Serundal continue on their musical road of dedicated folk-minstrel creativity and theatrical innovation. 'Dark Days White Knights' by Serundal, by its nature, might not be a chart-heading blockbuster album but, among the 'few' it should be able to bring musical enlightenment and aural satisfaction - and that's and understatement methinks!!

Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)

Downloads now available from songvault.fm!

posted July 30th at 5:23pm

After requests for download sales to be made available from www.songvault.fm please note they are now available here on selected Serundal tracks (including the most popular tracks which have made it to the songvault directory from listeners votes)

Be the first to buy here!