Children of Nature by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (Review)

I am going to say this as emphatically as I possibly can. This album contains some of the most beautiful music I have ever had the mortal pleasure of hearing. This music moves me every time I hear it. I know, I know. You’re probably saying that I claim that a lot about the music I own. Well, it’s true. But this album stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The album combines beautiful string arrangements, processed vocals, and minor key synths to create music that is a mixture of classical and dark ambient. Songs like “Ars Moriendi” use string arrangements to cut into your heart like a scalpel, and then wrench it with a good tug. The music on here is pure melancholy. No angst, no nihilism. Just pure sadness, the sadness for things that have passed in time and there is no hope to recover them.

However, this album is also very uplifting. Not to sound overly melodramatic, but this music is what I picture souls entering heaven hear. There is a definite sorrow here, but it is a sorrow that doesn’t cripple or mope, but inspires. This music is perfect for writing, or just contemplating about times long past.

As a soundtrack, this album makes me really want to see the movie. I’ve heard wonderful things about this film, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1992. I just hope that the movie is as beautiful as the score. Children of Nature creates a backdrop of loss, beauty, sadness, hope, salvation, and tenderness and I cannot recommend it enough.

If I have one complaint about this album, it is that it’s too short. I find myself wishing this was a double compact disc or something. Each song could unfold into a brilliant symphony. As it is, each song is little vignette, creating its own mix of feelings and evoking its own set of memories. Forget about what you thought beauty was about. This album will set you on the right track. Go buy it, now.

Note: I have seen the movie and it’s a wonderful film, full of beautiful scenery and cinematography. The music just adds to the overall poignancy of the film, especially “Snatis’s Death” and “Coffin.” Rent it as soon as possible.