Swathed in mystery, Nordic Giants are a UK instrumental duo who are known for blending live, cinematic post-rock with compelling visuals and film. Identities hidden with strange creature like masks, they formed in 2010 and have, over the last fifteen years, built a cult following through engaging live theatrical performances that fascinate and enthral.
They create a potent atmosphere, exuding a quiet strength that takes you on an instrumental journey through their cinematic universe. On Under Celestial Alignments it feels like we have encountered the birth of a new star, watching the newborn grow and develop, expanding within its own galaxy. Whilst it features individual tracks the journey runs throughout and is best aurally consumed in its entirety.
Opening with floating, space like noises that drift into melodious languorous piano, strings building gradually around the basal of the track named Logos. Then the drums crash in, a meteorite of atmospheric pressure driving everything upward, for an unchecked climactic escalation creating a yearning and moulding this adolescence.
Keys like a rippling tributary flowing gently and pulling us into its depths, gently on the Undertow. Piano paints a picture of dappled walls and foliage as we float, percussion skipping over rocks and stones along the way and urging us downstream, to be released dramatically into the wider river, causing ripples of strings that delicately fade.
Meditative piano keys with subdued percussion lead effortlessly into third track, a Torus on the surface of musical revolution, generated by the increasing three-dimensional melody on this track as it revolves fully about an aural axis that is symmetrical with the relaxing tune.
Flowing through from the previous tracks the echoing keys trickle sedately into Red Falls of reflective, sweet melancholy. Wrapping us gently in the security of it’s warmth and the blossoming tenderness, uplifting and beguiling us with it’s beauty. Like a kiss from a loved one it bursts with a tenderness, washing over us and inducing a moistness in the eyes.
You float gently into track five as if on a cloud, relaxing after a long journey and recuperating. You are lifted on billowing piano notes, rising on the swelling instrumentation and in euphoric harmony, return to your Raith settling peacefully on the ground.
In The Half Light you lay revelling in the most glorious sound cinematically surrounding you with an entrancing musical murmuration of notes. They fly and flutter, dipping and diving, swooping above you, rising, ever rising into a sky of blue. Drums cascading and merging with the flock of strings, on toward the rising sun, a trail of instrumentation melting into the distance, ushering in the morning. You feel a sense of joy and longing for more.
You stand to watch as the ascending golden orb sweeps rays of light across the fields to scatter among the branches of the trees. The shining Reaper cuts through the foliage, dappling the lustrous plants and flowers. Then darkening clouds of minor keys push into view, a wind of synths swirling across the land, humming and whistling through swaying limbs and boughs. Drumbeats tug at the leaves and attempt to detach petals from their corolla, whilst you take cover, marvelling at the spectacle under shelter, until it all blows over.
Clouded Minds full of tunes drift past as you listen to the softening squall, yet the retreating is slow and heavy, with swollen bounties of melodious raindrops released to freshen the air, and nurture the album’s florescence. It passes and in conclusion brings the album to closure as you turn to start another day, heart lifted as the tracks float in your head, only to be politely interrupted by the encore of a bonus track.
It’s a parturition of a Seren, illuminating our lives, guiding us majestically into a canticle like organ resonance that merges with the other instrumental sounds for an orchestrated grand finale, which completes this chapter of the band’s musical journey promising a future of hope.
This feels special, a celebration of all the band have achieved so far, the balance of light and shade perfectly synchronised, seducing you into catching them on tour so you can listen to the tracks live, experiencing them in all their glory. I’ve already got my tickets, have you?
TRACK LISTING
01. Logos (5:56)
02. Undertow (5:38)
03. Torus (7:10)
04. Red Falls (4:02)
05. Raith (5:40)
06. In The Half Light (5:21)
07. Reaper (4:56)
08. Clouded Minds (7:19)
09. Seren (6:15)
Total Time – 52:17
MUSICIANS
Loki – Instrumentation
Rôka – Instrumentation
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 13th March 2026
LINKS
Nordic Giants – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
