World-music collective Heilung unveils a new single and music video for the track “Asja.” The track comes from their new album Drif, coming soon on August 19th, 2022 via Season of Mist. Pre-orders are available now at the links below. Purchase, stream, pre-save, and watch the video for “Asja” now!
Pre-save and pre-order:
https://orcd.co/heilung-drif
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/band/heilung
The group comment on the new single:
“This is a love song. Maria sings to the listener of love, recovery and prosperity, chasing away evil and welcoming love. The piece contains a quotation of some lines of “Hávamál”, combined with a selection of blessing words meant to provide help to the listener in a troubled time. Kai brought his vocal part of ‘Asja’ back to us after a month of isolation, fasting and meditation in nature. Only the spirits know the full meaning, but we do know that the context is love, prosperity and protection. We are releasing Drif on Midgardsblot, the 19th of August, with an exclusive listening session and meet and greet in the Viking longhouse for a limited amount of people, stay tuned for info about tickets.
Love from Heilung.”
The album can now be pre-ordered here and pre-saved here.
Track-list:
- Asja (5:17)
- Anoana (4:57)
- Tenet (13:05)
- Urbani (2:55)
- Keltentrauer (8:26)
- Nesso (7:54)
- Buslas Bann (5:03)
- Nikkal (3:04)
- Marduk (8:34)
Total: 59:15
Watch Heilung on tour:
14 Jan 23 London (UK) O2 Academy Brixton
17 Jan 23 Manchester (UK) Bridgewater Hall
19 Jan 23 Dublin (IE) National Stadium
22 Jan 23 Glasgow (UK) Barrowland
Heilung means “healing” in the German language, and aptly describes the core of the band’s sound. The ‘amplified history’ trio reach back into our collective past to present a truly immersive experience, leaving the listener at ease and in a relaxed state, after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent.
Heilung reach far back in time to the Northern European Iron Age and Viking period to create the foundations of their sonic experience. The band utilises many means in their songs: from running water via human bones, reconstructed swords and shields up to ancient frame drums as well as bronze rings. It’s difficult to simply categorise a band that uses such a variety of influences, traditions, and instruments to create immersive soundscapes. Hence, the group settled on the description ‘amplified history’ to best describe their music.
When Heilung self-released Ofnir in 2015, the Danish band could hardly have anticipated the breakthrough success of their debut album. Spectacular live shows, strong critical acclaim, and a massive underground buzz added to the constantly high demand for this full-length led to Heilung’s new label Season of Mist re-issuing Ofnir in several collector’s edition formats. Heilung’s live album, LIFA (2017) was released in parallel.
The visionary three-piece continued gathering praise with their latest full-length Futha, released in 2019 which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Heatseeker charts and #4 on the Billboard World Music Charts in the United States, placing on a total of seven Billboard charts within the first week of its release. For the single ‘Norupo’ a music video was filmed at the Neolithic standing stones at Les Menhirs de Monteneuf in France, which can be viewed HERE.
The band’s music has been widely used in pop culture and transcends the traditional genre boundaries in music. Not only did leading television broadcaster HBO use their music in the trailer for the hit series Game of Thrones, Heilung’s sounds can also be heard in series like Vikings and Ragnarök on Netflix, as well as in the trailer for 2022’s blockbuster The Northman.
Furthermore, the group has been collaborating with game studios for the soundtrack of several mainstream video games. In 2020, gaming company Ninja Theory and Heilung started to work on the soundtrack for their upcoming game, ‘Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.’ The announcement trailer for the new game features Heilung’s song ‘In Maidjan,’ which is taken from their debut album, Ofnir. Watch the trailer HERE.
Later, Heilung was invited to join in another video game collaboration with MY.GAMES and Booming Tech for the new season of the ‘Conqueror’s Blade’ video game, ‘VII: “Wolves of Ragnarok.” The trailer for the game, featuring the track ‘Galgaldr’, can be found HERE. Heilung will also see their name being immortalised in one of the new combat map locations, which is now officially called ‘Heilung Fjord,’ and serves as a place for healing.
While the world came to a stop during the pandemic, the three-piece retreated into the studio to write and record the forthcoming album Drif. In classic Heilung fashion, all sounds are hand-crafted organically by the group. To create Drif, Heilung sought for forgotten songs, hand-crafted ancient instruments, and transcribed dead languages to spread messages of love and nature-respect. Drif will be Heilung’s most immersive and successful work to date.
In their own words:
“Drif means “gathering”. A throng of people, a horde, a crowd, a pack. In symbiosis with the album title, Drif consists of a flock, a collection, a gathering, a collage of songs, that much like little flames were seeking towards each other, to join, to bond, to create, and be greater together. This album has very clearly dictated its own path. Our attempts to tame it was repeatedly fruitless and once we came to this realisation, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. So much so that sometimes it felt like the songs wrote themselves. All the songs on Drif have their own stories. They have each their place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilisations.”
Heilung are:
Kai Uwe Faust
Christopher Juul
Maria Franz
Recording studio: Lava Studios Copenhagen
Producer / sound engineer: Christopher Juul
Mix/Master: Lava Studios Copenhagen, Christopher Juul
Guest musicians:
– Annicke Shireen, Emilie Lorentzen, Mira Ceti, on track: 1, 2, 3 and 8
– Jacob Hee Lund and Nicolas Schipper on track: 1, 2, 3 and 7
– Ruben Terlouw, Pan Bartkowiak, Marijn Sies, Gwydion Zomer, Isabella Streich, Martin Skou, Samiye van Rossum, Nadia Kalamieiets, Edward Boyter, Nina Cornelia Schilp, Mitchell Bosch, Gwydion Zomer and Katalin Papp on track: 2, 4 and 5
– Vilja Christine Agger, Ea Christine Agger and Michael Berberian on track: 3