LUMSK – Einsemda

RELEASE YEAR: 2026
BAND URL: https://lumsk.bandcamp.com/album/einsemda

This scribe was particularly enamored with the previous offering by Norwegian folk prog rock/metal collective Lumsk, more specifically the melancholy and evocative Fremmede Toner (2023), which marked a most welcome stylistic turn and ushered in what felt like a new era for the group. The follow-up, Einsemda, expands on the poetic and beautiful aura of its predecessor and arguably sounds slightly bigger and more epic in scope and ambition but without losing any of the intimacy and emotional impact that characterized Fremmede Toner.  

The album starts out like a simmering dream by means of the opening strains of “Daudmannhaugen” and morphs seamlessly into a varied musical territory where a prevailing sense of yearning roams wild and free across richly textured sonic tapestries, soaring vocals, bittersweet lyrics, and thoughtful songs with plenty of intricate passages to them. Einsemda is ear-catching yet sufficiently complex and intriguing to warrant repeated listens, and it balances light and dark as well as tension and release splendidly. When you couple impressive arrangements (underlined by some of the most inventive and brilliant bass playing your truly have heard all year) with a sparkling, robust production and some high-caliber musicianship, what you end up with is a record that ticks all the relevant boxes. From the pastural and gentle-sounding to the tempestuous and cathartic, Lumsk cover a lot of ground here while keeping things consistently exhilarating. Pretty much everything that I have stated above is perfectly encapsulated and exemplified by the monumental and sweeping “Haust på Torget.”

Einsemda is an absorbing experience and proof of the band’s superior songwriting heft, and Lumsk have never been as interesting as they are now. Hopefully, this is an indication of subsequent folk-inspired riches to come as these six tracks whet the appetite for more.