Nasheim is the atmospheric black metal project of Swedish artist E. Grahn. Though it’s difficult to ascertain when this project was born, his debut album, Solens vemod, dropped in February 2014. Now, almost exactly five years later, he emerges from the charred, windswept soil of an archaic copse to channel a telluric energy. Jord och aska, or Earth and ash, is a despondent expanse made verdant by its lush, transfixing melodies. A seamless wayfaring, this album harbors an elegant blissfulness sodden in melancholy. The quivering violin, the baritone cello reverberations, the frosty tremolo-picked atmosphere; each note is condensed into a single burning essence, which fervently boils as the album progresses. At its conclusion, the essence is crushed and dispersed across the copse in a cloud of ash and ember-emblazoned dust. And when we emerge, transfigured and born anew, we feel a kinship deeper with mother Earth. Thank you so much for listening.