I have a copy of Covered Bridges’ first tape. I remember getting this when I got back into collecting dungeon synth tapes and at the time in 2020, comfy synth was in full swing. The tape displays a covered bridge which sits unassuming and presents a picture which could be an illustration for chamomile tea. The cover for 2024’s Totality and Infinity, in contrast, shows a blindfolded figure cloaked in iridescent robes and as if an oracle speaking prophecy from a black vortex. I keep Covered Bridges’ debut tape near me to grab, much like a talisman, when I have no idea what is going on and need some sort of grounding device.
A lot has happened since 2020 which is why when Fiadh mentioned an upcoming tape for a Covered Bridges split with a DS/Black Metal artist Grimhold I was intrigued and once again I looked at that aforementioned tape as to remind myself that, yes, this is the same artist and we are in a completely new world. I have always been interested in artists willing to extend themselves and Covered Bridges astral projection into space, combined with a black metal artist’s meditation on dungeon synth of the 1990’s was more than enough to get me interested. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a new tape I can grab and pray to when times become uncertain.
Before I listened to the split, the creators sent me a shared playlist of influences which ran for about 3.5 hours. This sort of introduction was something I had never done but now after doing homework for a review I feel I want to have every artist make playlists of music so I can find new artists. What I have learned over the course of my time working with musicians is that they are huge music dorks and probably have an eccentric if not esoteric compass in which they chart through the musical world. From a cursory glance on its influences, A Festival Of Winters is the result of eternal hyperfixation on music and the realms that lie beyond its borders.
A Festival of Winters is an exercise in projection as both artists stand back to back gazing into their respective visions of what dungeon synth means to them. On the one hand Covered Bridges, an artist who began as a comfy synth artist now embraces new age and dark ambient, bends the rules and invents new ones. On the other, a black metal project discovering dungeon synth and its wealth of synth based soundscapes conjures forth their own alchemy. Everything is devoted to dungeon synth but beyond what it should or should not sound like. There is a world of difference between the medieval ambience of songs like “Apex Delta” from Covered Bridges to the cRPG sound of Grimhold’s “Charging Ossuary.” With that said there is also a world of difference between Covered Bridge’s partnership in dark ambient with “Orthopraxy” and the winter synth serenity of Grimhold’s “Through The Tunnel.” At one point I asked about the track list and despite it being a simple split, the range of styles soon turned out to be so numerous, A Festival of Winters could be a compilation from a dozen different bands.
I am lucky enough to see in the future and have seen the proofs for the physical tapes that will run on Fiadh in February. Again, for something that is listed as a split for mechanical purposes, the level of care and craft which went into this double sided tape art is a testament to a group of people who are open minded about different sounds and sharing the same space as those who have come from extremely different backgrounds. A Festival of Winters feels like a chance meeting between two artists who have a world of stories to share around a communal fire.
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A Festival of Winters will be available digitally Friday January 10th and on tape through Fiadh in February. For now enjoy a preview of the upcoming split.
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Below is a small interview I had with the artists that was mostly just me asking questions about their music and the music they enjoy.
KAP: I remember the Covered Bridges self-titled tape back in 2020 and then seeing the cover for Totality and Infinity feels like a leap in terms of aesthetics. What has happened since 2020?
Covered Bridges: The first Covered Bridges album was so influenced by that initial wave of Comfy Synth artists. When I first heard Grandma’s Cottage – it was one of the most radical, strange albums I’d heard in years. I get that people find comfort in that style of music but there is something sinister and dark and hidden in it to me that I was drawn to. Even by the end of the first Covered Bridges album I think it got a lot darker. I also think there is something more mystical and spiritual in this music, and Totality and Infinity was definitely the logical conclusion of the progressive and mystical side of it for me. “A Festival of Winters” is a step closer to what we loved in dungeon synth and comfy synth originally – the simplicity and directness of emotion. Also – since the songs are mostly from the last 6 months -the recording is just as close as possible to where the ideas came from, without endlessly editing and recomposing. Both of those methods have their purpose, and it ebbs and flows which one we’re drawn to at the time, but after Totality and Infinity it was time for something more direct. That being said I think this stuff is still clearly of a lineage with the first Covered Bridges album, at least to me. I like to think of progression through music more fractally than linearly.
KAP: Grimhold looks a black metal project exploring DS or maybe the other way around. How did you find Ds or begin getting into the idea of making it.
Grimhold: I’ve been a metal fan forever, particularly black and death metal, or anything symphonic or melodic. I fell in love with dungeon synth and comfy synth as soon as they started exploding a few years ago, and I loved the aesthetic and musical synergy dungeon synth had with metal. I’m also a huge fantasy nerd, and lo-fi dungeon synth began to act as such a strong soundtrack to most of my daily activities, that I naturally began to think about incorporating more fantasy based compositions alongside some other musical projects. Grimhold began as a dungeon synth project, but I think now I think of it as a pretty even split with black metal. Only time can tell which direction it will primarily take in the future.
K: Your playlist for inspiration for A Festival of Winters is … extensive. What I enjoy most about it is that it is mostly dungeon synth but extending into drone, doom, noise, and new age. Did you feel called to incorporate so many outer elements in the creation of your recent music?
CB: Dungeon Synth didnt come from just one scene – which to me means there is something essential in its nature and not purely contingent. This album is inspired by a lot of dark spiritual music in general, regardless of the genre. It wasn’t a goal for this to be eclectic but that’s the way that it turned out. I’m not really interested in exercises in aesthetic purity or sameness. Darkthrone, Enslaved and Mayhem also loved Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk…
GH: I feel the influence of all those genres work their way into Grimhold somehow, but I think a lot of it is subconscious. I can use existing dungeon synth music as a starting off point for my inspiration, but then use artists like Scott Walker or Bowie to alter how I think about composition or songwriting, or even just for an idea for the “feel” a song should have.
K: 2023’s “The Aurora” was tagged with “Sounds of the Dawn”. How did you happen upon that channel and maybe an appreciation for greater new age.
CB: I have been into New Age music, and specifically private press new age stuff for as long as I can remember. It was the least cool thing to be into when I was growing up, but it’s been awesome to see it become a little more accepted as of late. Sounds of the Dawn I found a few years back and it was an absolute treasure trove of that type of music. I have found so many gems through that channel, just cassette rips from really inspired artists who put out their own music in the 80s and 90s. These were artists with more spiritual inclinations that got pushed to the edges of society back then. Some of my recommendations that I’ve gotten from that channel are:
K: Would you say this release, “A Festival of Winters” is a split or collaboration.
CB: I became friends with Grimhold through hearing his incredible production in another world of music and we bonded over a lot of shared tastes and passion for music. I’ve been so impressed with what he’s done as Grimhold and it was a natural decision for us to finally make an album together. It is a split but also very collaborative and woven through a single narrative and we guest on some of each other’s tracks.
GH: A Festival of Winters is primarily a split, but there is a small amount of collaboration between us on a few of the tracks. Grimhold is primarily a dungeon synth and black metal project, but through my friendship and collaboration with Covered Bridges, I find myself wanting to also explore where dungeon synth music can be taken. We met, I think, in 2016 both wanting to work on music vastly different from what we’re doing now. I’ve heard Covered Bridges’ musical style and skill evolve so much, and I feel we’ve trodden that path together for the last 8 or so years. I think it’s easy to rely on style over substance in this subgenre of music, and it’s a challenge to stand out based on composition and songwriting craft alone, but it’s something we’re both eager to do with A Festival of Winters.
K: What are your plans for 2025 (musical not social though we can hang out if you want to)
CB: I would love to hang out, seeing people in this scene in person brings me great joy. Musically, in 2025, it’s time for Covered Bridges to take a bit of a hibernation to reflect, after 4 releases in the last 2 years, and see where the project takes me next. I will have another full length from Toy Factory, my experimental electronic project out in early 2025, that we have been working on for about a year.
GH: I’m planning on doing the opposite of hibernation and aiming for two full length LPs in 2025. The first will be a black metal full length, and the second will probably be a synth based one. There may be a couple of other smaller releases sprinkled throughout. More collaboration would be cool, too.
K: Recommend something to listen to after your split (does not have to be dungeon synth)
CB: I know you’ve heard of Constance Demby, who is a foremother of New Age music and someone I listen to all the time, so I’ll skip on that. One of my favorite records of the 2020’s is “New Love Music” by this Swedish-Polish sound designer / composer Marta Forsberg. Particularly the song “Music” is like nothing I have ever heard before. It is so wide open, and mysterious and droning. Words can’t even describe it – it just makes me feel different than I ever have before. It’s breathtaking. Also, the collaboration between Sunn O))) and Nurse with Wound called “The Iron Soul of Nothing” was a huge jumping off point for me on this album, and you can really hear it in a song like “Orthopraxy,” which is probably the strangest song on the record.
GH: I’ve been obsessed with His Name is Alive for the past few years, and they put out a box set this year with some of their 90s albums remastered for the first time. The 1993 album Mouth by Mouth is a special one to me, and has a strange alternative 90s magical sound to it, it’s hard to pinpoint. From 2024, my favorite release may have been Living is Easy by extreme metal band Agriculture. They have an overwhelming sound to them, it’s mind blowing. One minute they’re screaming over euphoric blast beats, and the next they’re singing gently over clean melancholy guitar. Both sides of their sound are as gut wrenching as the other.