Popol Vuh - Sei Still, Wisse Ich Bin (1981)

Popol Vuh entered the 80s with one of their darkest, most ritualistic albums.  The base of their sound was still the layers of Daniel Fichelscher's chiming guitars, and Florian Fricke's piano somewhere in the mix, but the songs were becoming ever more minimal in their trance-inducing, mantric repetition.  Renate Knaup, who was now the main vocalist, has said of her time in Popol Vuh that "Florian's music makes you feel stoned when you sing it; the repetition makes you high".

After an initial blast of the Bavarian State Opera Choir, opener Wehe Khorazin settles into the first "yehung" chant of many by 80s Vuh.  This is often assumed to mean "hand in hand", as it appears alongside this phrase on the back of the Spirit Of Peace LP.  "Yehung" and "hand in hand" are however the alternating lyrics of Take The Tension High on that album, and I reckon they're just meant to be printed as lyrics, rather than a translation. "Yehung" may have some religious root, or it could just be a chant made up by Fricke that sounds good, like the "Haram dei"'s on Letzte Tage.  Anyway, enough about that.

The next track intensifies the ritual atmosphere with just percussion and chanting, before Garten Der Gemeinschaft closes the album's first half on a more calming note, led by Fricke's piano.  The second half is in a similarly less intense vein, more akin to previous Popol Vuh albums, or indeed what was to come for the rest of the 80s.  The highlight here is the lengthy Lass Los, which starts from a choral introduction and then bursts into a familiar Fichelscher chime as the vocals combine the album's Biblical title "Be still, know that I am" with the song title and more "yehung".  The little melodic motif that stretched across Popol Vuh's career (I think Fricke called it "Little Warrior") makes an appearance at the end of the final track, capping off another wonderful, if a bit darker than usual, Vuh album.  Another one next week, which I always felt was too obvious to post - but let's face it, it's too good not to.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Seligpreisung
Einsjäger & Siebenjäger
Aguirre
Das Hohelied Salomos
Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte
Coeur De Verre
Brüder des Schattens - Söhne des Lichts
Florian Fricke - Die Erde Und Ich Sind Eins