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Swedish music history contains many more or lesser known artists and bands. One of those bands is Isildurs Bane. While the band has been around for decades, it never got very much attention, which is strange because their musical archievements are many and diverse, while the quality of their recordings is constantly high.

This article examines Isildurs Bane’s latest project, the MIND project.

Isildurs Bane

Isildurs Bane was founded in 1976, playing “A well-balanced mix of acoustic and electric instruments with Swedish vocals.”[1]. Current ‘frontman’ and musical mastermind Mats Johansson joined in 1976 and in the early period (1976 - 1984) the band wrote four albums, but failed to cut a record deal (”We’d worked hard to cut a record deal, but most companies felt that Sweden was too small for our kind of music.”[1]), so the bandmembers decided to start their own record company, Ataraxia Productions. In the early period Isildurs Bane released Sagan Om Ringen (1981), Sagan Om Den Irländska Älgen (1983), Sea Reflections (1985) and Eight Moments Of Eternity (1987).

The Voyage continues



In 1989 Cheval - Volonté De Rocher was released, without guitarist Mats Nilsson, who quit the band. After Eight Moments Of Eternity, which was Isildurs Bane’s first non-concept album, Cheval - Volonté de rocher was (again) a concept album about the postman Ferdinand Cheval[2] who built his own ‘palace’ consisting of stones he found along his mail route. The album was (musically) a giant leap forward. The follow-up The Voyage - A Trip To Elsewhere (1992) was an even greater succes, and in the next few years the band toured and re-released the albums from the early period on CD, as well as a compilation CD with previously unreleased material.



The MIND project



In 1997 the band decided that it was time for something completely different, and a new guitarist and percussionist joined the band (the band had used guest and session guitarists before then). The MIND project was started. MIND stands for Music Investigating New Dimensions. The MIND project is REAL progressive music, in the sense that every volume of the series is fundamentally different from the rest of the series. The MIND concept applies also to the tracks within a single volume. Generally however, the music can be described as a blend of athmospheric, chamber classical, jazzy and experimental music. Due to the MIND concept this of course is never completely true. The discs require repeated complete listening, and with each time more pieces fall into place.

The fact that Isildurs Bane’s composer Mats Johansson doesn’t consider a composition ‘finished’ or completed when it is released on CD leads to special songs. Some elements or songs occur on more than one Volume, but never in the same context and style. MIND Vol.2: Live (2001) for example contains many new versions of existing Isildurs Bane songs. These versions are somtimes slightly tweaked, but most of the time completely renewed.


Here follows a brief review of every release in the MIND series till this day.

MIND Volume 1 (1997)



Being the first volume in the MIND series, this albums is closely related to Isildurs Bane’s last ‘normal’ release (The Voyage - A Trip To Elsewhere, 1992) concerning musical style. A Blank Page (3:07) and Ataraxia (3:27) are short opening tracks featuring athmospheric tones on piano and violin combined with acoustic guitar, later on joined by tribal percussion. Holistic Medicine (14:51) is the first long track on Volume 1. It is an eclectic piece featuring a spoken voice commentating a chess game. Meanwhile, the music seems to build up to an increasingly heavy chord scheme, resulting in a powerfull ending of the track. The piece is filled with some nice Floydian guitar solos. The other two long pieces of Volume 1 are Opportunistic Walk (15:14), an incredible well-composed piece, containing a chamber music style opening, a powerfull rock basis and some metal elements, and The Flight Onward (12:05). Great guitar and violin solos brighten up the songs, and the rhytm section is great too.

MIND Volume 2: Live (2001)



Although the subtitle suggests that this volume in the MIND series is a Live album, this is not completely true. Most tracks were recorded live, but almost all tracks have been edited in the studio afterwards. Some parts were erased and re-recorded in the studio, and some new pieces were recorded in the studio. The so-called Extroversions (Sound clips and short compositions by Mats Johansson), with an average duration of one or two minutes function as musical glue between the different recordings. The two discs are completely overloaded (77:29 and 77:22 respectively) with high quality songs, including live versions of songs from Volume 1 and The Voyage - A Trip To Elsewhere (1992), a live version of the Cheval - Volonté De Roche, a remake of Maison Des Fous (1920, a ballet by Swedisch composer Viking Dahl) named The Asylum, and Celestial Vessel (23:44), a piece played live at the start of the new millenium, featuring Mats Johansson on Theremin[3]. Another interesting track on this release is Opportunistic Medicine (8:00), a combination of Opportunistic Walk and Holistic Medicine from Volume 1.


MIND Volume 3 (2003)



If there is any volume in the MIND series that puts forward the MIND concept most, it is Volume 3. This album was made by Isildurs Bane in ensemble with the Metamorfosi Trio[4], an italian improvising group. The bands describe themselves as each others opposites (eletric vs. acoustic instruments, composed vs. improvised music, and so on), which leads to an unusual combination of improvised and composed music. As a result, Volume 3 is the least accessible volume in the MIND series. The fact that this album is related to the other MIND volumes least, makes it the perfect example of the MIND concept. The album basically consists of two main pieces, The Octagon and L’evento. Each of those pieces is subdivided into many parts. Both pieces are diverse and experimental, and can’t be described in words. The Sails (Part 2 of The Octagon), The Stern (Part 8 of The Octagon) and The Journey (Part 4 of L’evento) are my personal favorites, because they are the most structured songs on the disc.


MIND Volume 4: Pass (2003)



With MIND Volume 4: Pass Isildurs Bane turned into a completely new path again. This time, vocals are the basis of most songs. This is revolutionary, because Isildurs Bane hadn’t used vocals, besides some short samples, for a very long time. Following Volume 3, which was the least accessible volume in the MIND series, it is a striking contrast that Volume 4: Pass is the most accessible volume in the series. Some songs are somewhat related to pop music, but of course musically far more original and complex than average pop music. The music is lively and more guitar oriented than the previous volumes. On volume 4 Isildurs Bane also uses more samples and digital recording and music techniques than ever. Sadly MIND Vol4: Pass is also the shortest Volume in the MIND series, lasting only 56:34.

MIND Volume 5 - The Observatory (2005)



After four CD releases in the MIND series, Isildurs Bane thought it was time for a DVD release. Like MIND Vol2 (2001) this DVD features songs previously released on other volumes in the MIND series (primarily MIND Vol4: Pass, 2005), as well as previously unreleased tracks (Under The Wind, People Are Afraid, Without Grace and Thoughts Stand Still). The DVD lasts about 2 hours (including bonus material).

Songs From The Observatory EP (2005)



Although this officially isn’t a part of the MIND series, it deserves a short review, because the tracks on this EP originate from Volume 5 which is a DVD. This means that this EP is the only way to get a CD version of these tracks to date. This EP contains three of the four new tracks of Volume 5, namely People are Afraid (2:07), Without Grace (5:20) and Under The Wind (3:18), as well as one completely new song: No Choice (I’m Still Here) (3:36). It is a very short EP (14:21), but the music is good and the price is low. This EP is only for real fans, who want the complete collection.

Conclusion

Isildurs Bane’s MIND project is clearly a great series of original music. The question is: will Isildurs Bane be able to continue this high quality output?
If you want an album that sums up almost everything Isildurs Bane is, buy MIND Volume 2: Live. If you want a more gentle introduction to the music of Isildurs Bane, take MIND Volume 4: Pass instead.


References:
[1] Isildurs Bane Official Website
[2] Ferdinand Cheval (Wikipedia)
[3] Theremin (Wikipedia)
[4] Metamorfosi Trio Offical Website