The first time that I heard of this band, was when I read a review of their debut cd in a metalmagazine. This debut was released by a metallabel (Voices Of Wonder), but pretty quickly Of The Wand was brought into the neo-folk scene like a hero. I still don’t know if this was (supposed to be) a familiar name in that scene or not back then, but Of The Wand sure was a quickly rising star. The debut cd is a very nice neo-folk cd with some very sad songs and very peculiar whispered vocals.
Later there was a 10″ on the neo-folk cultlabel Eis & Licht Tonträger from Germany. This 10″ proved that Kim Larsson isn’t afraid of some healthy experimentation. This same urge seemed to radiate from songs that went around over the internet, so I was quite curious about this cd.
Again it is released on a metallabel, but one that is quite close to the neo-folk scene. What was most striking when I put on this cd, is that it contains plain neo-folk, nothing too special, this time with normal vocals and no longer with the beautiful violins. Inspite of two long and some shorter experimental tracks, this is just another neo-folk cd in my ears. Nice, but nothing special.