Vinterborg

Said about Vinterborg:

”a magical forest”

”like a melody passed down over time”

”something out of a video game”

➢ Access the song here

Imagine sitting in a viking house in the middle of a blizzard. The winds howl outside the wooden walls of the house. The wolves howl beyond the outer walls of the fortress. You sit by the fireside with your friends, singing and playing songs together while waiting for the storm to pass.

Vinterborg is a trance song inspired by viking fantasy and Swedish traditional music. It was written as a tribute to a Valheim game server.

The game server’s main camp, situated on a meadow just beneath a snowy mountain, was called Vintur, which is old east norse for winter. The camp was commonly attacked by greydwarves, trolls and wolves, and you could always hear deer and crows nearby.

The song’s melody is played on a månmarkapipa, a variant of a traditional Swedish flute. The melody is also sung with the technique from the Nordic herding call tradition called kulning. The animal sounds have been borrowed from the other side of the Atlantic.

Credits

Music and lyrics: Solvej von Malmborg
Vocals and production: Solvej von Malmborg
Flute (Månmarkapipa): Björn Cederstrand
Mixing and mastering: Cathrine Milton
Album art: Jóhanna María Einarsdottír
Album cover design: Jenny Noshi
Animal sounds: Yellowstone sound library, credit of National Park Service