We have seen Dreamers’ Circus, the pride of Denmark’s modern folk scene, on stage only once. That was in Celtic Connections 2023 when they played in the main hall of the Royal Concert Hall. Their gig was preceded by Finland’s very own Frigg who were absolutely great (and we were patriotically so proud in the stalls), but the Danes were… cosmic.
I don’t think any other word describes the quality of the music that poured from the stage, or my stunned disbelief as Nikolaj, Rune and Ale changed and switched instruments, playing what each tune requires.
And they were having a great old time doing all that.
Jealous? Who, me?
So yeah, DC are, for me, something of a “Rush of Nordic Folk”: three amazing musicians doing whatever they please, with this strange mix of bravado and humility. They know they’re amazing, they let it show, but they don’t make a show of it. I love it.
Dreamers’ Circus have never restricted their ouvre; they can move fluently from trad to jazz to baroque and back to trad, without leaving you on the wayside wondering what happened. They know what they’re doing so just enjoy the ride.
And that’s why I was a bit surprised when I pressed play on Handed On. The opening duo of Uhrbrand’s Cabin and The Great Sea felt so trad that I assumed, without checking the album details, that DC have gone and done their “back to the roots” album, maybe inspired by Frigg’s fairly recent Perintö, their all-trad blast.
But on the third track, Tretur, I began to doubt it. The melodies are very trad-flavored but there was something so sophisticated that I gave in and checked the facts. And the facts are interesting. This is what they tell us on Bandcamp:
The enforced downtime during the COVID pandemic encouraged the band to compose a collection of tunes, which they compiled into book form and published under the title Handed On. As the band states: “We went back to go forward.” They returned to their roots, drawing inspiration from the traditional Nordic music that has guided and driven them since the beginning. A total of 58 tunes were published in both book and digital formats (see http://www.handedon.com).
Taking some of the best tunes from this collection, Dreamers’ Circus immersed themselves in Farvemøllen Studios in Copenhagen with producer Kristian Leth, seeking to capture live the spirit and energy that originally inspired them to play traditional music. Handed On reflects and celebrates the importance of oral transmission, community, shared heritage, and the vibrant, living contemporary tradition of Nordic music.
So that explains it: Handed On is the Dreamers’ Circus version of Danish traditional music. To use an analogy: if this was a tech scene, we could say that this album is a set of synthetic data inferred from a larger set of real life data: it has a the same qualities and attributes the original has, but it’s completely new (I’ve been getting into this stuff in my job lately).
And that is not a criticism, mind you. Handed On is as lively, as inspired and as colorful as any previous Dreamers’ Circus release – if you’re already familiar with DC’s magic, you know what I’m talking about.
To keep the facts straight: there are some traditional tunes as well. Regnar’s Styk (I think that means “Regnar’s Tune”) and the set Make High the Gate / The Billy Goat. The first tune in that set is an old hymn. My wife, who knows loads of Lutheran hymns, sang along right away, with the Finnish words.
What I especially love about them is the hard-to-explain quality of light in their music. There’s always space and air between the instruments and even the slow tunes are never gloomy or dragging. Maybe it’s the hygge, the pølse, the Carlsberg – maybe all of them together? Doesn’t really matter where that sound comes from, it’s lovely.
Of the tunes already mentioned, Tretur is definitely one of my favorites here, likewise the nocturnal and cinematic Owls in the Bog, and the classically leaning The Promenade is absolutely beautiful in its serenity. Not a weak track on this album, as to be expected from Denmark’s best and the light they bring, the light we need right now.
Handed On and other DC albums are available at https://dreamerscircus.com/albums
FolkNotes 