Militia Aurora & Jota Solo - Lebensglut LP
The Austrian split album Lebensglut (English: Life’s Glow) explores the work of four poets in very different ways: Karl Wolfskehl, Stefan George, and Georg Trakl, all active in the early 20th century. The selection is rounded out by Julius Sturm, who had been active a century earlier and can be regarded as an early pioneer of Symbolist expression.
Wolfskehl and George were not only close collaborators, but also key figures in a literary scene that could be described as neo-Romantic, stylistically close to Jugendstil. Their poetry was marked by formal Symbolism, aiming for a kind of elevated, almost sacred use of language. Georg Trakl, a unique figure of his time, also wrote in a Symbolist style, but served as a link between Symbolism and Expressionism, which sought to confront the chaos of the era with raw emotional force. His admirer Ernst Jünger once wrote: “His poetry resembles the turning of a dream kaleidoscope that, behind frosted glass in the shimmer of moonlight, repeats few but genuine stones in monotonous patterns”- a beautiful image for the hypnotic quality of Trakl’s verses.
While only one poem by each of the other poets is set to music, there are two by Trakl, a clear sign of how deeply his work resonates with the overall atmosphere of Lebensglut. The title itself is well chosen, as it speaks of intense inner fire, and also of a dangerous kind of ecstasy, close to life weariness and a fascination with decay.
Jota Solo and Militia Aurora bring their own unique voices and approaches. Each interpreted three poems in their own way, using their characteristic styles and vocal expressions. The two Trakl settings, however, were created together as a joint effort.
That both musicians, like Trakl, come from Austria, just a coincidence? Or does a shared cultural background help them grasp and express this fragile, haunted mood with such precision?
The artist behind Militia Aurora released music as one half of Glasberg, while the one behind Jota Solo had released music as part of Nový Svět. Both of these widely respected projects follow an approach that could be described as characteristically Austrian. Their music is built from striking sample based collages in a post industrial style, enriched with folkloristic elements. One might recall The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud in this context. Glasberg drew on themes from Brothers Grimm and the Nibelungenlied, while Nový Svět distilled the essence of various artistic sources into a vivid and surreal kind of magical realism.
Now, two experienced artists are at work, and the ambivalent energy of Lebensglut is shaped with steady, confident hands. Militia Aurora moves in slow motion across blood soaked battlefields, where the gasps of the dying and the fading echoes of war drums still linger. In contrast, Jota Solo’s bittersweet synthesizers release strange scents, somewhere between sweet decay and intoxicating lilac.
All in all, a work that moves between healing and unease, between excitement and pulling back, between burning bright and slowly dying down.
Tracklist
A1 Militia Aurora – Der Meister und der Tod
A2 Militia Aurora - Algabal
A3 Militia Aurora – Heldenklage
B1 Militia Aurora & Jota Solo – Das Herz / Karl Kraus
B2 Jota Solo – Der Meister und der Tod
B3 Jota Solo – Algabal
B4 Jota Solo – Heldenklage
