Le Garçon de l’Automne (The Autumn Boy) is a solo project from Strasbourg based musician, Quentin Maltrud, who recently reached out to me to discuss the release this year of Prelude to Farewell, his EP which follows up debut album, Leaves Are Falling released in 2020.

This is “pagan folk”, and certainly it does evoke the spirit of times when our respect for nature, and life in general was higher, in essence prior to the corporate world which has captured us this past century, or so. The small, but no less significant, and now growing, backlash against this consumerist corporate culture includes advocates of paganism, effectively polytheists, which itself grew out of a desire to understand and explain the wonders of the world around us, as opposed to any single set of beliefs and customs.

The amount of talent and effort which has gone into making this recording cannot be understated. Le Garçon de l’Automne plays guitar, hurdy-gurdy, flutes, Celtic harp, dulcimer, percussions, chalumeau, didgeridoo, jaw harp, glockenspiel and more, and if this review inspires you to try out more, his Bandcamp page is at https://legarcondelautomne.bandcamp.com

We open with a short introduction, Pikkulapsi, which translates from the Finnish as infant, and I take this as the writer seeking to place himself as a very young being when set against the age and wisdom of the earth, and it does take the form of a lullaby. A gentle start to proceedings.

This is followed by This Is Goodbye, ending with a knowing lyric about the grandiose nonsense of life, and how lies and broken promises still permeate our existence, but with the hope that times will change. Musically, this is a gorgeous medieval folk song, some of the harp work especially delicate and entering your consciousness, the percussions throbbing underneath in a song you can picture dancing around a sacred space in years gone by (and, it must be said, that Christianity never did wipe out these rituals. They went underground, obviously because of the repercussions of being caught, but in rural society, they were strong).

Angra Mainyu was the evil spirit in Zoroastrianism, and the principal adversary of the Spenta Mainyu, the creative spirit. His image is reproduced here. It is a short instrumental that I have embedded below, but, by heavens, what a lot he packs into this wonderful piece, full of eastern drama, the beat thudding as one imagines the spirit as the wind, racing around creating destructive storms, plagues, pestilence, and the like, so precisely the way our forebears sought explanations in both the physical and spiritual for what were difficult and dangerous lives and surroundings.

Same Scars is brilliant talking about forgotten people in the wood, singing elegies until one day, a voice fell silent, and the songs were no more, instead, the people rising with hope as their banner to tear down the bars, and I take this as a commentary on the writer’s hope that in the near future, the sensibilities of the past with its closeness to life will again take centre stage. The opening passage is a lament, before the pace picks up, and I rather love the sense of togetherness the excited and bright chords bring to the siblings of the community all sharing the same scars. It is here that all the incredible multi-instruments combine to such intensity, traditional folk music at its finest. It is embedded below.

Skírnismál, or Skírnir’s Journey, is a classic Norse poem, and Maltrud treats us with the words sung as in the prose as preserved. This type of music, fusing modern recording and playing techniques alongside the ancient stories and instruments of the North has become popular in recent times by the likes of Heilung, and, indeed, I have reviewed an album by the exceptional Skogsalver. This deserves to be mentioned in the same high manner, the percussion especially intricate and at the core of the telling, a deep and emotive voice singing the ancient words, the harp soaring above it all. Wonderful.

We close with Autumn Sun, and we have an official video to share with you here in a song full of the mystery of the changing of the seasons, autumn heralding the time when in winter the cold earth will set asleep. The video is fantastic, and this is a modern folk song which I think fans of progressive outfits such as Mostly Autumn and Tull’s middle period will really enjoy. The voice on this is emotive, dripping with connection of the season he is singing to, a truly impressive performance. Hurdy gurdy plaintive, a violin and cello from Meidi Goh oozing with the prettiness of the season before the wind and voice simply take the emotion to a higher level, the closing harmonies featuring Goh quite gorgeous. This track is a contender for this website’s “track of the year” award. It fills me with a joy of living, something I think we could all do with a lot more of in these troubled times.

Once again, the joy of running this website is the opportunity I have to listen to, and write about, talented artists and cultural landmarks, and to share them with my loyal group of readers.

This EP is exceptional, and I can’t wait for more of this from The Autumn Boy. Very highly recommended.