Varang Nord will play a run of headline shows across the Baltic countries next month. The dates and venues went out on a flyer rather than a press release, which at this level is the usual way.
The band are from Daugavpils and have been going since 2014 without a label. Mygla, their album from last year, came out that way too, preceded by five singles released across the same twelve months, which is a release schedule that only makes sense when nobody else is setting it.
What they carry on stage is the part worth knowing. Alyona sings and plays accordion, medieval bagpipes and talharpa, a bowed lyre from the Baltic and Nordic tradition that almost nobody outside folk circles has heard played live. Wolf sings and plays guitar. Both have been there from the start.
Folk metal tours that stay inside the Baltics are rare enough: most bands from the region head for the German festival circuit instead and skip their own neighbours.