Dreamers’ Circus, “Handed On”

“Handed On is more than just an album—it is a testament to the enduring power of tradition and the spirit of reinvention. Listen closely, and you will hear not only the echoes of the past but the pulse of something vital and new.”

Dreamers’ Circus is at the root of my Nordic folk music journey. When I was first finding myself drawn to Nordic music, most of my perception of what Nordic folk music was, came from its vague uses in soundtracks and the bricolage of pan-European folk influences comprising my favorite folk metal albums (and only just recently learning Lassi Logrén was actually in a few of them!)

It wasn’t until I came upon the Danish String Quartet as a classical music student, and then Dreamers’ Circus through association with Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, that I was first exposed to a different (and, if I may, more authentic) side of Nordic folk for the first time. There were other bands I discovered at roughly the same time, notably Väsen and Draupner, who all together introduced me to so many different approaches and perspectives on this thing called Nordic folk music. It was poetic for me, then, when the channel’s first guest was Dreamers’ Circus’s own Ale Carr, champion clog fiddler and renowned cittern player.

Now, all these years later, I find myself running the most accessible platform for Nordic music across genres in the States, with Dreamers’ Circus at the heart of what brought me here in the first place. It’s rather serendipitous, then, that the new record I’m reviewing today, Handed On, continues that ever-present question that has also been nagging the Nordic Sound as I cover wildly different artists all claiming the same space: what does it mean to play Folk music? To be a folk musician?

Handed On is the seventh (if I can count…) full-length album in Dreamers’ Circus’s discography. After some pretty audacious and avant-garde records (A Little Symphony and Rooftop Sessions), the trio has found an impetus to return to their roots in traditional Danish and Swedish folk music after the pandemic gave many of us around the world a hard, introspective reset on who we are, how we live, and what we want out of our lives. Of course, the Nordic folk tradition has always been at the core of what the band does in respecting the culture that nurtures them while also fearlessly poking and questioning at its boundaries.

But, with Handed On, there’s an explicit desire behind the record for the band to return to the essence of Nordic folk tradition; to put the progressive and experimental approach in the backseat (but still in the car, to keep the metaphor going) and tend to the roots and soil from which Dreamers’ Circus grew. The result of this introspection is an album that manages to at once retain the magic and soul of what makes the band so enchanting despite a more reserved and down-to-earth sound and approach to songwriting. In other words, even when you pare Dreamers Circus back to their bare essentials, they are still a one-of-a-kind ensemble. That’s something special.

This is best exemplified in tracks such as “Malva” and “The Great Sea”, but also in the album opener “Uhrbrand’s Cabin”. “Uhrbrand’s Cabin” has Rune’s fiddle front and center for the entirety of the track playing in a traditional polket style with the other instrumentalists playing a reserved supporting role as would be typical at a more traditional folk dance. “The Great Sea” moves on to maintain that elemental minimalism, but in the melancholic contemporary style Dreamers Circus is known for, with Ale Carr leading with one of the most beautiful cittern parts in the band’s discography with Rune’s fiddle playing a swaying, lilting melody that evokes a nostalgic air, with Nicolaj’s piano tying it all together in a lush and warm atmosphere.

With Nicolaj Busk opening the third track, “Tretur”, the band follows through on a great dynamic of having each of the three members lead one of the first three tracks before the album develops from there. Rune leads “Uhrbrand’s Cabin”, Ale leads “The Great Sea”, and then Nicolai leads “Tretur”. I just think it’s a charming touch. “Tretur” is the first track that tears into a more upbeat tune about half way through, and many of you will be unsurprised when I say that, while Dreamers’ Circus is known for their melancholic atmosphere, some my favorite moments on all of their albums are when they let loose and go wild, such as in “Kitchen Stories” on Rooftop Sessions or “A Room in Paris” and Bach homage “Prelude to the Sun” off of Second Movement. This high-tempo fiddling energy comes up again in Handed On in some of my favorite tracks off the record, “Iron Halls” and “Catastrophe”.

“Catastrophe” includes another aspect of Dreamers’ Circus that’s come to be a part of their unique style, and that is their daringness to incorporate more experimental or avant-garde styles into their music. In “Catastrophe”, it manifests as a musical representation of the title which interrupts the intensity of the main tune, but also in “The Old Goat” which is one of the weirder tunes the band has published, in only the best way. I want to know which came first, the name or the tune itself, because this track absolutely depicts an old, surly, stubborn goat that you warn the kids not to look in the eye.

All of this is to say, that while Dreamers’ Circus’s Handed On sets out to explore the essential roots of the Nordic folk traditions that raised and nurture them, the band also manages to continue what they’ve always done: create dynamic albums which explore anything from the deep melancholy of “Malva”, to the silly weirdness of “The Old Goat”, to just good ol’ fiddling with “Uhrbrand’s Cabin” or “Iron Halls”. The sheer diversity of expression Dreamers’ Circus brings to their albums, while also somehow maintaining a uniform sound that makes anyone go “ah, yeah, that’s Dreamers’ Circus” shows a persevering chemistry and artistry that this band has somehow maintained over their 15 years together.

Handed On is both an homage to, and manifesto on, Nordic folk music. The band sets out to show in this album the importance and imperative of tending to your roots as folk musicians, while also making it clear that folk traditions are living, breathing, and always responding to change in a dance between the new and the old, finding a balance between the two. The musicians, particularly Ale Carr in his other interviews you can find here on Youtube, also see an importance in giving back as folk musicians. What makes folk music eternal is not a permanence and resistance to change, but rather the idea that as a folk musician you for just a fleeting moment participate in this thing that is greater than yourself, and eventually, you hand it on to those who come next. There’s a responsibility to it. You take care of the tradition, keeping it safe for those who come after you, and that’s why what it means to “keep it safe” is the main point of contention in today’s folk music, as it doesn’t have one ultimate meaning. To this end, the band also published a book of 58 folk tunes also sharing the title Handed On in the spirit of keeping traditions alive while also giving them room to grow and change. About the collection, they write:

This led us to this project that we call ’Handed On’. We recognise we’re part of an unbroken line of people who have shaped and shared their music across borders in time and space. And without these people, the music that we love so dearly wouldn’t exist today. In an attempt of contributing to the tradition and giving something back, we’ve written and compiled 58 tunes in a more traditional style, ranging from simple beginner tunes to more advanced. Our dream is that these tunes can open doors to this style of music, serving as a source of inspiration to delve further into the tradition and help renew it.

Their press release also tells, “For the album, Dreamers’ Circus carefully selected some of the most evocative tunes from the book. Their goal: to capture the raw energy and deep connection that have always been at the heart of Nordic folk music. The result is a vibrant, soul-stirring record that celebrates the traditions of oral transmission, communal storytelling, and the ever-evolving nature of folk music itself”. To me, this is always what Dreamers’ Circus has stood for, and why I’ve found them to be such a refreshing and inspiring band since I first listened to them many years ago.

I greatly look forward to wherever Dreamers’ Circus goes next, even if it’s another five years. But, for now, I will enjoy every moment spent with Handed on as I hope you will too.