Folk music is great on its own, but what happens when someone takes the bones of folk and builds something else on top? Elements of punk, southern gothic, doom, black metal, or straight up chaotic noise like an addition on a house. These cases lead to something unique, often ominous, but always interesting. Here are four artists who took folk and ran with it.
Soviet Shiksa
Soviet Shiksa is the solo project of Nashville-based artist Christopher Shawn, who blends elements of Southern Gothic and dark folk experimentation. He describes this as “nightmare jazz,” aptly capturing the unique mesh of electric guitar, jazz trumpet, haunting vocals, and thumping percussion. The most recent single, “Siren” from 2024, ominously shifts through experimental tempo changes and vocal registers. It starts out with Shawn’s commanding baritone, before reaching for a haunting upper register. Soviet Shiksa has gothic texture painted over the strong bones of folk.
From The Bogs Of Aughiska
From The Bogs Of Aughiska is a black ambient group from the west of Ireland who draws inspiration from their ample history and folklore. The folk roots come through in their anthropologist-like exploration of their own history and landscape, adding elements of black metal, dark ambiance, spoken word, and field recordings. Their last studio album was Mineral Bearing Veins from 2018, which blended all of the above with noisy ambient chaos and traditional storytelling into a densely packed narrative. The album is full of uniquely mixed moments of tenderness, of bleak isolation, nature’s hostility, and hopeful desperation.
SubRosa
SubRosa takes more of an indie-rock foundation and adds elements of doom folk and unconventional instrumentals to the mix. Their first release, Strega from 2008, showcases their command of sludge and stoner rock. Heavy guitar and percussion drag through a slog of phrases on tracks like “Crucible,” while vocalist Rebecca Vernon pushed her thready voice through the wall of sound. SubRosa disbanded in 2019, but Vernon went on to start a solo project called The Keening, which leans into more of the doom folk sound than SubRosa.
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat is a group from Belgium that started out as a solo project of Stef Heeren. Named after a medieval witchcraft ritual, they began with more doom folk and chaotic ambient origins. The Nebulous Dreams, a 2008 collection of three tracks, shows off an ominously discordant nature. Noise, dark ambiance, and ritualistic rhythms built an ever-growing sense of unease. Later, as a full band, they moved into more of a post-punk landscape with the 2015 album To Live Vicariously. There, they shed the skin of drone folk and picked up a more industrial, darkwave sound.
Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images
The post 4 Artists Who Turned Folk Into Doom, Punk, or Pure Chaos appeared first on VICE.
