Jonathan Hulten - The Forest Sessions - CD + DVD Digipak

JONATHAN HULTEN RETURNS WITH THE STUNNING FOREST SESSIONS

“His multi-tracked vocals make for goosebump-raising ASMR” - Classic Rock

“Staggering emotional depth, as well as an astonishing poetic economy, his less-is-more approach creates a sense of reverence and vulnerability that invest the material with a potent vitality” 9/10 - Metal Hammer

Jonathan Hultén, the darkly enigmatic Swedish Grammy-winning songwriter returns with his collection: ‘The Forest Sessions’. The new album features experimental versions of songs from the album ‘Chants From Another Place’ & the EP ‘The Dark Night Of The Soul’, but it is also a short film composed of music videos & interludes with animated illustrations & poems.

Recorded by himself between January 2020 & June 2022, with mastering & mixing taken care of by frequent collaborator Ola Ersfjord, this is a deeply intimate work from start to finish. Hultén invites listeners into his world through the stunning album cover which he designed.

Hultén draws comparisons to artists including Nick Drake, Sufjan Stevens, Wovenhand & Fleet Foxes, as well as traditional folk artists such as John Martyn right through to his contemporaries in Anna Ternheim, José Gonzales, Anna von Hausswolff, Chelsea Wolfe & Hexvessel, although his work stands alone as truly original.

This edition comes with a bonus DVD featuring a collection of music videos that spontaneously evolved into an album as well as clips from Roadburn Redux Festival. It is also a small collection of poems & animations that tells a little story about letting go of old sorrows & rediscovering a sense of joy & adventure.

It began with an idea of live streaming a concert from the woods. A team came together, a plan was worked out & eventually the project morphed into the making of 8 unique music videos based on the setlist of a live performance. The filming locations were scouted in reference to the song titles & the plan was to film all the material in 24 hours around an area about 40 minutes from Stockholm, Sweden. In the following weeks rough cuts were made & given to the filmmaker Emil Klinta, who would take care of post-production, gracefully bringing everything to the next level. Around this time the idea to interpret & record new versions of the songs came up & felt like an interesting extension of the project. These new, experimental versions were to be done in the same pace as the finalization of each video. And so it came to be; throughout the following year with about 1-2 months in between the music videos were released, one by one.

DISC 1 - CD
1. Wasteland (Forest Version) (03:47)
2. Leaving (Forest Version) (04:14)
3. Holy Woods (Forest Version) (03:15)
4. Where Devils Weep (Forest Version) (03:26)
5. ...And The Pillars Tremble (Forest Version) (03:02)
6. The Call To Adventure (Forest Version) (04:54)
7. The Mountain (Forest Version) (03:53)
8. Dance Of The Water Spirits (03:42)
9. The Call To Adventure (Roadburn Version) (03:33)
10. A Dance In The Road (Roadburn Version) (04:31)

DISC 2 - DVD
1. Wasteland Poem (Animation) (01:20)
2. Wasteland (Forest Version Movie) (03:33)
3. Leaving Poem (Animation) (01:02)
4. Leaving (Forest Version Movie) (04:15)
5. Holy Woods Poem (Animation) (01:00)
6. Holy Woods (Forest Version Movie) (03:26)
7. Where Devils Weep Poem (Animation) (00:49)
8. Where Devils Weep (Forest Version Movie) (03:26)
9. ...And The Pillars Tremble Poem (Animation) (01:02)
10. ...And The Pillars Tremble (Forest Version Movie) (03:01)
11. The Call To Adventure Poem (Animation) (01:08)
12. The Call To Adventure (Forest Version Movie) (04:54)
13. The Mountain Poem (Animation) (01:13)
14. The Mountain (Forest Version Movie) (03:55)
15. Dance Of The Water Spirits Poem (Animation) (01:08)
16. Dance Of The Water Spirits (Movie) (03:41)
17. The End Poem (Animation) (00:57)
18. The Call To Adventure & A Dance In The Road (Movie) (09:15)