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8 Elvish Folk Dances
by E.J. Gold
Price: 1 Goldback
Review:
(“8 Elvish Folk Dances” by E.J. Gold and the BardoTown String Quartet By J.L. Nardo, Staff Shaman-at-Large -- Los Angeles Free Press, Arts Underground)
If you're still chasing acid echoes in Laurel Canyon or thumbing old Tolkien paperbacks at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, you'll want to wrap your ears around 8 Elvish Folk Dances. The latest from E.J. Gold -- yes, that E.J. Gold -- and the string-leaning mystics of the BardoTown Quartet, this record isn't just music. It's a map.
The suite plays like a field recording from a village that shimmered out of phase sometime after the Bronze Age. Think Bartók raised by druids, or Béla Fleck on mushrooms in a mossy glen. These aren't your standard fairytale jigs -- they've got teeth, and moss in their cuffs.
The opener, Dance of the Hollow Hill, creaks and spins like an invitation scratched on a bark scroll. By the time Pipeweed and Pebbles rolls in, you're knee-deep in the kind of rural mischief that makes even gnomes blush. But it's Shimmering Ale, Spinning Sky that steals the cauldron -- a wobbling, transcendent groove that feels like getting lightly drunk with your past lives.
What's wild is how tight the quartet plays. These aren't aimless freakouts -- the arrangements are clean, rich, a little wry, and full of old-world character. They know when to lean in, when to drop back, and when to just let the ghosts do the talking.
It ends with Farewell to Mistwood -- a tune so bittersweet and gently unhinged, you'll swear you remember the place, even though it never existed.
Put it on. Light something. Open the window. And if you hear fiddles in the trees... don't be alarmed.
You were probably invited.
1. Dance of the Hollow Hill
At dusk, the hill opens. Lanterns flicker. The fiddles begin. The elves rise barefoot from the moss, spinning in silent delight until the first rooster crows.
2. The Spinner's Jest
A nimble-footed prank woven into a jig -- this dance loops and tangles like a thread too fine to follow. Blink, and your shoes are missing.
3. Pipeweed and Pebbles
Two village cousins challenge each other to a duel of steps and smirks. By the end, neither wins -- but everyone's cheeks hurt from laughing.
4. The Cobbler's Invisible Daughter
You never see her -- only the faint clatter of shoes on stone, and the movement of dust in the light. She dances every midsummer, always alone.
5. Shimmering Ale, Spinning Sky
After three tankards of elderflower brew, the dancing gets wilder -- and so does the air. Elves stumble through starlight, laughing until gravity forgets them.
6. Lanterns Along the Rootpath
A slow circle, candlelit, barefoot. A ceremony to honor the ancient trees, who once danced too -- but now only hum through bark and time.
7. The Fishwife's Revenge
This one is sharp, foot-stomping, and a little salty. Inspired by an elvish woman who once hexed a merchant for short-changing her trout.
8. Farewell to Mistwood
A final waltz in a forest that no longer exists. The trees remember the tune, even if the mapmakers don't.