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Hildegard von Bingen, the twelfth century monastic leader who wrote a large number of religious musical pieces, enjoyed a sudden surge of interest in the late twentieth century. This was partly due to an increasing scholarly focus on women in the medieval church. Musically, the major impetus seems to have been derived from the recording A Feather on the Breath of God, featuring the divine voice of Emma Kirkby. This recording hit at precisely the right psychological time and "Abbess Hildegard," who was also known for her mystic writings and was one of the few medieval women with significant political clout — both of which made her a natural icon for the New Age crowd — attained sudden fame. Dozens of recordings followed, mostly performed by serious early-music choirs but with the occasional surprising contributor such as Ofra Haza. Swedish folk-rock group Garmarna do not take the traditional approach with this album, which uses some of Hildegard's best known works. The standard approach to these monophonic songs is to have it performed in unison by a number of female voices, as it would have been sung in her abbey, perhaps with a drone underneath to add a little texture. What has been done here, however, is that Garmarna have added a dance beat, and rather than a drone in a single key, somehow they found chord changes to add colour to the melodies. Only the final track is the exception, with Emma Härdelin performing the piece a capella as a melancholy denouement. This album is the first thing I've heard by Garmarna, who by all accounts are a fairly straight forward folk-rock group. On this album the only hint of their folk roots is the violin, which is played very much in the Scandinavian folk style. This album is probably most reminiscent of Enigma, whose take on Gregorian chant enjoyed a fair deal of dance floor success in the nineties. For me, however, Garmarna are more succesful for one simple reason. They allow the original melodies to remain the focal point of each song. Those unused to medieval modes may find the tunes difficult to come to grips with, but Garmarna seem to have a very good feel for each song, which helps a little with their accessibility. For myself, even though I have had a fair amount of exposure to medieval music, I still find the major and minor scales far more natural, but here the modes simply add to the alien beauty. This is not an album for everyone. In fact, it's probably not even an album for most prog fans. Some will find it dull and others a tacky cashing in on a New Age fad. I, on the other hand, like this album. I like it for the way it succesfully unites musical traditions with little things such is as the high reverb, which evokes both chant inside a cathedral and bands like Radiohead. I like it for the voice of Emma Härdelin, who may not be Emma Kirkby, but who does have a voice wonderfully suited to this music. Mostly I like it for the fact that the musicians obviously have a better feel for the music than some of the more staid peddlers of Hildegard von Bingen's works. review by Conrad Leviston — 10-9-06 —