Veronique Chalot - J'ai Vu Le Loup; Ritmi E Canti Tradizionali Bretoni E Occitanici

Earlier this year I mentioned that medieval music was really on my mind, so much as to influence my own music. Wow, was that some self promotion moment?! Anyway, here is some more dose of early European music goodness. Less academic than that previous one, and more close to singer-songwriter territory. All songs on this record are traditional tunes, but she did write her own on other records, and I recommend all of them. But back to this one; these are all traditional songs from two south French regions, Corsica and Occitania, which I knew nothing about, until researching about this album, and I learned that they're not 100% French, but got some Italian and Spanish influences/backgrounds respectively, but I won't dwell further on that, you're better off reading Wiki, the same as I did.
Anyway... yeah, this is some great drone-ish (as most medieval songs were), melancholic folk tunes, and to be quite honest, they do sound quite contemporary, albeit with some strong medieval influence, not unlike Joanna Newsom, for example (though less complex than Newsom and her prog tendencies). The songs are pretty simple in structure, with repeating motives, some seems to be dance numbers, mostly done with guitars or (region specific) zithers and accompanied by simple (hand I believe?) percussion (some frame drum possibly?), flute, fiddles, and some deep reeds. I love the sound of these reeds (Bassoon [Fagotto] as Discogs lists it... but I'm guessing that's some region specific instrument too). Speaking of which, I love the production, it's super raw and intimate, most probably record live with a few ambient mics. You can hear some background noises (from some instruments I guess), and saturation whenever someone gets too loud. Maybe you could call this lo-fi, but everything is so clearly heard and upfront.
Special highlights to "Chant de la montagne" (with its heavy, Metal style, intro) and "Chant de la mer", such beautiful, melancholic tunes, and  "Danse des sorcieres" with THOSE REEDS, man! And, and, "L'Empoisonneuse" with its amazing, overblown, middle section (that's the most prog-ish you'll get here). It's all good. Just check it already, queue it for your next D&D campaign maybe.