Ithildin is an artist I've wanted to discuss here for quite some months. It is a pleasure to conclude my 2024 journals with his music.
If you allow me to be a bit melodramatic, Dungeon Synth has a problem with projects inspired by The Lord of the Rings or the broader Tolkien legendarium. Since some amazing, seminal releases back in the 90s, there's a kind of "Tolkien-inspired rough 15-minutes demo" trope that is still strong even after so many years.
To be 100% explicit: Secret Stairways is amazing. Its clones, less so.
If there's one artist that, in my book, not only does justice to Tolkien's lore, but does so while incarnating all that I love about "modern" Dungeon Synth, it is Ithildin. I first met his music when he published the third volume in the Arda's Herbarium series.
This amazing project is a huge homage to an obscure book of Tolkenian lore: Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, written by retired botanist Walter S. Judd and with illustrations by Graham A. Judd. The book is a love letter to Tolkien's worldbuilding, while staying true to scientific principles (you can read a more in-depth review here). The author went carefully through Tolkien's books and found all the references to the plants, vegetables and fruits of Middle Earth, and compiled them into an accessible, if somewhat specialized, book for everyone. And, with Arda's Herbarium, Ithildin embarked on the quest of putting into music all 100+ entries of Flora of Middle Earth.
I was really impressed by this titanic task. I mean: who sets out to do such a huge undertaking? And for what purpose?
Let's get this out of the way first: the music of Arda's Herbarium is amazing and showcases almost all aspects of Ithildin's skills as a musician. One can find carefree melodies on apples and carrots side by side to black metal representing the darker side of Middle Earth's flora.
Along the journey, there are also more typical Dungeon Synth atmospheres and amazing collaborations that are bringing the project to new depths.
Having said that the music is what I consider to be peak 2024 Dungeon Synth (and, if one needs saying, also comfy synth, fantasy synth, and so on), I want to go back to my first question: who sets out to do such a quest, and why? After all, Ithildin could have chosen a subset of plants for a single release on the subject. I can't claim to have all the answers, but my take on both the book and Ithildin's series is: there is a way of looking at the mundane that helps rediscover the magic even in the smallest, most common things. This idea is expressed very clearly in the description of Vol. II.
The professor’s process of magnifying, naming and animating all plants pushes us to notice the plants that surround us in a concrete way. Tolkienian mythopoeia does not promote escapism - it reconnects us to important elements of our internal, natural and cultural landscapes. It impacts how we interact with others and with our surroundings - with what we see, what we smell and what we hear.
Are you really listening to what surrounds you?
The idea of fantasy and fantasy music as experiences that help reconnecting with what's around us is one I deeply relate with, as I have said at the beginning of the year in the journal entry on Bruna - Desolazione Rurale. I can really feel why such a project can capture an artist's imagination so completely as to give oneself to such a multi-year, multi-release adventure.
Arda's Herbarium might be Ithildin's magnum opus, but he has also a more, let's say traditional, take on the Tolkien legendarium. Indeed, his very first release is, so to speak, a musical rereading of the very first chapter of The Lord of the Rings and, in 2024, he followed up with chapter 2.
There's nothing hasty, superficial or generic about these two albums. Indeed, each of these releases is both a narrative feat and a deep cut into some of the details that someone like me might forget over the years (I had completely forgotten about Shadowfax, for instance). The Shadow of the Past, in particular, conveys the personal scale of the story without losing sight of the epic tale, and I found the songs about Gollum to be almost hearthbreaking. The level of craftsmanship and attention to details is stunning: as with Tolkien's masterpiece, one could come back to these album again and again and discover something new at every listen.
Tolkien is the fil rouge leading me to another feature I absolutely love of Ithildin's music.
I haven't mentioned yet that Ithildin was, for a long time, a gigging drummer. I don't really know what kind of music he played, but one can take an educated guess by looking at some of the inspirations for his more unique projects. The Hobbit At The Gates Of Dawn is a hommage to the classical Pink Floyd release, and it is one of the most fun contaminations I've come across in Dungeon Synth (another very recent example is a project by a one Samwise Gramsci). I should also mention that one of the influences that The Hobbit At The Gates Of Dawn had on me was to show me that a Dungeon Synth cover album was not only possible, but also a worthy and fun quest.
And this is another feature of Ithildin's music that I really love and find inspiring: the contaminations with prog rock blend seamlessly with whatever fantasy imagery Ithildin chooses to embrace and open up a new world of sonic possibilities in Dungeon Synth.
Ithildin's influence on my music is more evident in Auguries of Innocence, where I tried (among other things) to channel my inner prog musician in many of the compositions. For instance, check out A wild flower, the song that above every other is directly inspired by Ithildin's prog releases.
There's another notable feature about Ithildin's music. Unlike many other Dungeon Synth artists, he is releasing music almost exclusively under one project. The only exception is Pantagruel, that was born in 2023 in a spontaneous and brief outburst.
A moody release unlike typical Ithildin's music, and highly recommended for those dreadful sleepless nights, for quite some time it seemed that it would be the only output under the banner of Pantagruel. But, in time, something magical happened.
Musically, I absolutely love how The Moon And The Freedom It Holds mixes soft pianos with harsh black metal guitars and fast drums. This kind of melodic and dark music sitting at crossroads between genres speaks straight to my heart, and every track of this new release is a gem. I also have a soft spot for music that expresses the sorrow of everyday life, and The Moon And The Freedom It Holds belongs to this category as well, as it was recorded for the 20th anniversary of the death of Guillaume's father. Listening to the music through this lens is a very emmotional experience, one that makes me want to cry together with Guillame and with everyone grieving the death of a loved one.
Besides being a skilled musician, Ithildin is also a visual artist (he draws many of his covers, for instance) and runs with a friend the amazing Les Cassettes Magiques, a precious gem of a label focusing on a variety of projects also outside of Dungeon Synth.
Rereading my Bandcamp reviews of Ithildin's music, I see that I used the word 'magic' a lot. It's really a fitting word for such an amazing artist that is able to combine so wildly different influences and inspirations into a coherent music corpus. Wizards are real and Ithildin is one of them, and I'm so happy I've met him through Dungeon Synth.
When I write my journals, I always get in touch with the artists and ask them if they want to talk a bit about their music. Ithildin graciously agreed and dived in a bit more into some of his inspirations.
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ: Your music, but also your art (I'm thinking e.g. of In the Land of Ghostflowers, a terrific collaboration with Angel) has a lot of references to nature and plants. Would you like to share a few words about the importance of nature in your life and your art?
Ithildin: I had the privilege of growing up in a rural village, where I could contemplate the sun setting above the fields and the forest every evening, then fall asleep to the sound of crickets, birds and sometimes even coyotes. The more time passes, the more I realize how lucky I was. This landscape bathed my childhood, it is still imbued in me.
Also, I have always been fascinated by the forest, it is a great symbol of mystery, enchantment and magic in my eyes. I probably developed this through my love for universes from works such as Lord of the Rings and The Legend Of Zelda... And even things like Jules Verne's novels, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Donkey Kong or Pokemon, which are all things I adored when I was a child and where the forest and plants occupy a very important place.
I must also mention the influence of my friend Louis-Philippe Cantin, recurring participant in my Ithildin project and leader of the group Perséide. He is a true ambassador of the forest in everything he touches artistically. Also, of course, it's a very strong theme for the dungeon synth community and many artists that I love refer to it, such as Sunken Grove, Ulk, Willow Tea, Moss Knight, Sylfvr, Onfang or Silent Garden, to really name a few. You should never deny the influence of a scene, a community and your peers. This is probably the most essential.
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ: Besides nature, Tolkien is another explicit influence. Would it be relevant for you to share how his works have come to be so important for you?
Ithildin: I still remember my very first contact with the Tolkien universe. I was 9 years old, my mother had organized an evening to the cinema, I had no idea what we were going to see. From the first moments, those with the narration, I found myself completely captive to the film. But the moment of grace arrived when I saw The Shire, the hobbits and Gandalf. It really opened a door in me, even if it was impossible to understand that when I was 9 years old. I was hypnotized and had to have my mouth opened for the rest of the film for sure.
I subsequently read the books, regularly listened to Howard Shore's music on CDs and the work always stayed with me.
I must have 1000 reasons to appreciate Tolkien's work, it's difficult to point out only one. Let’s try a few...
- The dream life and the character of the hobbits, of The Shire, and the fact that the greatest role belonged to them... Shows that great unsuspected forces can be born in any individual, especially the underestimated.
- The underlying critique of industrialization and environmental destruction, from Sauron to the Ents. As well as the alliance of peoples in adversity to combat this destruction of nature (humanity should take notes here).
- To refer back to your first question, the importance that Tolkien gives to the nature is very inspirational.
- The mystical and naive aspect of characters such as Tom Bombadil through a world where very serious and meaningful events take place.
- A darker one… Gollum/Sméagol is a character that completely fascinates me. His loneliness is poignant. For me, it is an incredible parallel of the distress that certain individuals in society, partly victims of it, can experience.
- Overall, I feel it as a very complete work, as it explores so many human subjects, from friendship to mourning, from nature and adventure to worth of living a cozy life without bothering anybody. It holds a very special place in my heart.
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ: As I mentioned in the main text, the latest Pantagruel is terrific. If I may, can I ask about the two tracks that have the same name as the previous Pantagruel release? They seem alternate versions, recorded with the instruments of the new album.
Ithildin: The first Pantagruel was really "straight to point", like I recorded it and released it in about a week or two. It was made really fast and with no care for the mix. So I re-arranged and re-recorded some parts of these 2 songs, gave them the same mix from my friend Pierre as the other new tracks. It felt like finally "completing" these.
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ: some months ago I was talking to Ithildin and I said that he feels like a big brother that is often away from home but still takes the time to visit family, i.e. the online community we both are in. Talking to him about music, fatherhood, arts and life in general is really refreshing. And, of course, his music is refreshing as well. As he says himself in the description of his projects (a bit tongue-in-cheek, I suspect ; ), one can both find in his amazing discography Light-hearted music for heavy-hearted people and Heavy-hearted music for light-hearted people. But who is only light-hearted or heavy-hearted at all times? It's great to be able to find in his music - and kinship - exactly what one needs at different moments in life and to have such a terrific company along the way.
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ, November-December 2024