Heathen musician Tonya Threet has completed her album dedicated entirely to the Nordic creation story found in the Poetic Edda. This is the completion of several years of meditating on the Völuspá, connecting with Gullveig and Odin, composing the music and determining the tracks, and finally hours upon hours in the recording studio and post production.
The album opens with stanzas one and two as Threet’s haunting vocals set the tone of the album as a spiritual journey of the Völva (Seeres). The album contains all of the stanzas of the poem from the Henry Bellows translation and can be followed through the course of the album. Her vocals are clean and easy to understand which would make it easy to help memorize the text if one was inclined to do so.
Each track has its own “sound” to tell the complete story. She uses different instrumentation, cadence, and effects to empower the stanzas selected for each piece. Each track flows seamlessly into the next drawing the listener along with the story. One can envision at many times being surrounded by swirling mist as the Völva’s words “would you know yet more?”
The pace and power are kept all the way through the 28 tracks of all 66 stanzas from the creation of the Gods, the giants, the world and humans, the war between the Aesir and Vanir, the death of Baldr, Ragnarok and finally the rebirth of the world anew.
The album cover shows a stunning image of Gullveig standing before a majestic rune wheel surrounded by flames. Released just last fall, the album is already inspiring listeners around the world.
Threet’s commitment to the text and the Gods is clearly evident in the time and work she has done to honor Them with this amazing work. The completion of this project has inspired her to continue to compose additional works to the Gods and Goddesses and other Heathen topics. It is great to have music produced by, for and about Heathenry. Listen to samples on Soundcloud .
UPDATE November 2020: Völuspá by Tonya Threet, was released on Valkyrie Rise Records in 2017. It is no longer available from the artist. Here are short releases on YouTube with portions of the album and video with Tonya’s vocals.
Find Tonya’s page on Facebook.
Gifts of the Wyrd 