Sowulo: Confronts Personal Grief With Dark Folk Ritual on New Album ‘NIHT’

The music video for ‘Āsteorfan,’ the solemn new single from the Dutch dark folk project Sowulo, is a study in primal ritual. It intersperses close-ups of Faber Horbach singing and playing historical instruments with its central, recurring image: a figure walking barefoot across a path of glowing embers, a firewalk under the cloak of night. The song itself is a meditative piece, a sonic landscape where the mournful resonance of the nyckelharpa and the ancient call of the carnyx merge with deep, grounding percussion and guttural throat singing. The arrangement is minimal yet profoundly immersive, designed to evoke an inner descent into silence and stillness, a moment of spiritual surrender.

At the heart of the song, both lyrically and thematically, is a message delivered in Anglo-Saxon, the project’s signature linguistic choice: “Die before you die, and know death is not the end.” The title, ‘Āsteorfan,’ translates from the Old English as “To die,” but the song’s purpose is not one of finality. Instead, it is a four-minute meditation on overcoming life’s darkest periods, an empowerment to face the fear of mortality and the dissolution of the ego. As the project’s creator, Faber Horbach, explains, it is a reminder that “the darkness is not your enemy; it helps you gain insight into what truly matters.”

This exploration is not an abstract philosophical exercise. The song, and the forthcoming album it heralds, was born from a period of intense personal tragedy. Horbach wrote the music while navigating the “profound grief following the loss of both his father and stepfather.” This emotional crucible has transformed his art, channeling personal sorrow into a work that frames death not as an endpoint, but as a “portal toward clarity and spiritual awakening.” The immediate reception to the “stirring” single suggests this vulnerability resonates, with new listeners discovering the band and commenting, “Where the f***k have I been to have only learned about these guys now!! This is amazing.”

The explicit connection between personal tragedy and creative output marks a significant pivot for Sowulo. While previous albums explored grand philosophical and archetypal themes, the raw, lived experience of mourning has forced a thematic shift. The project, named for the proto-Germanic rune for the Sun, has turned its gaze to the night. This makes the new work the most vulnerable, and perhaps most universally resonant, of Sowulo’s career, moving it from the realm of historical interest into the shared human experience of loss. The music has become less an academic exploration and more a lived testimony.

The Artist and the Project

Sowulo is the work of Faber Horbach, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer based in Arnhem, Netherlands. For more than a decade after the project’s formation, Horbach was responsible for all of its functions, including composition, recording, production, and label management.

The name “Sowulo” is the Proto-Germanic word for “Sun.” Horbach has stated that his music is a vehicle for his spiritual path, which is informed by an animistic worldview and an interest in the cyclical nature of existence. The project’s lyrics are primarily in Anglo-Saxon.

From Sun to Moon: A Conceptual Turning Point

The upcoming album, titled ‘NIHT’—the Anglo-Saxon word for “Night”—is set for release on August 29, 2025, via Season of Mist, and represents a deliberate conceptual counterpoint to the very identity of the project. Where “Sowulo” means “Sun,” ‘NIHT’ is a conscious “journey into the sacred darkness—the realm of the subconscious, mourning, and inner stillness.”

The album’s sound palette is said to be woven from “grief, mythology, and transformation, using broken instruments and primal vocals to confront ego death and the void left by lost light.” This detail about using “broken instruments” is a powerful and literal metaphor for the emotional state behind the album’s creation, suggesting a sound that is intentionally imperfect and raw.

Vocals play a crucial role in this new dynamic. Alongside Horbach’s throat singing and chants, vocalist Micky Huijsmans takes on a more prominent role. Her “powerful, raw vocal compositions” on the track ‘Mōnaþblōd’ (“Moonblood”) are said to channel “feminine wisdom, menstruation, and lunar rhythm,” pointing to a deeper exploration of duality—sun and moon, masculine and feminine, light and dark—that lies at the album’s core.

The album’s production team sees the return of trusted collaborators, with Horbach producing and Fieke van den Hurk (who worked on ‘Alvenrad’ and ‘Mann’) co-mixing, ensuring a continuity of quality even as the emotional territory shifts. The tracklist itself maps out a clear narrative journey through the lunar cycle, contextualizing previously released singles like 2023’s ‘Seolfren Sicol’ (“Silver Sickle”) and ‘Heolstor Sċeadu’ (“Dark Shadow”) within a larger, cohesive story of descending into darkness and finding a new form of illumination.

This new artistic era is accompanied by a significant professional milestone: in February 2025, Sowulo signed with the renowned independent label Season of Mist. For an artist who has been fiercely independent for over a decade, the move is pivotal. “Over the last 10 years, I have taken on every task myself; from composing, performing, and recording to producing and managing all the record label activities,” Horbach stated upon the announcement. “As the project has expanded, I have realized that it is time to take a new path to unlock Sowulo’s full potential.” The partnership, he explained, will provide him with the “space and time I need to focus on creating even more music and developing the live shows with the attention and care they deserve.”

The timing of this professional step-up is deeply intertwined with the personal nature of the new album. The immense emotional weight of creating a work centered on grief appears to have necessitated a practical shift. To fully immerse himself in the difficult creative process of transmuting sorrow into art, offloading the logistical burdens of a one-man operation became essential.

The professional move is therefore more than a career advancement; it is a support structure that enables the deeply personal artistic dive into ‘NIHT.’ The album’s physical release reflects this new level of support, with multiple formats including a CD Digipak and several vinyl editions, one of which is a “Surprise Colour, Fully Recycled Vinyl,” catering to a dedicated fanbase that values the tangible artifact.

The Path of the Sun: Charting Sowulo’s Progress

To understand the gravity of this turn to darkness, one must first trace Sowulo’s journey through the light. The project’s discography reveals a clear and deliberate artistic progression, with each album marking a distinct stage in Horbach’s personal and spiritual development.

The genesis of Sowulo was as a studio concept. The 2013 debut, ‘Alvenrad,’ was an “instrumental ode to the pagan year feasts,” described as ambient folk or ritual music. Composed solely by Horbach, its sound was defined by piano and classical arrangements, giving it a “dramatic orchestral sound.”

The 2016 follow-up, ‘Sol,’ marked a pivotal evolution. It featured six re-recorded tracks from the debut but made a crucial instrumental shift, replacing the piano with folk instruments like the Irish bouzouki, hammered dulcimer, and nyckelharpa. The result, as described in reviews and by Horbach himself, was “much more energetic,” and “less melancholic, more happy, free and dynamic.” This was the moment Sowulo transformed from a solo classical project into a fully-fledged folk band, moving from a cerebral to a more “grounded” sound.

With the 2019 album ‘Mann,’ the project’s focus turned inward. The theme shifted from the external cycles of nature to an “inner journey,” exploring the “four seasons within” through the Jungian archetypes of the King, the Lover, the Warrior, and the Magician. The music became far more “intense,” “primordial,” and “powerful,” with reviewers noting the influence of Horbach’s other band, the Viking folkish metal outfit Myrkvar. It was a divisive but powerful artistic statement, described not as a collection of songs, but as a cohesive “book.”

The philosophical deepening continued with 2022’s ‘Wurdiz.’ Here, the theme became even more abstract, exploring the proto-Germanic concept of “Wurdiz” (“Destiny”) and the intricate “dance between fate and free will.” The sound solidified into the cinematic and “intensely atmospheric” style that now defines the band, utilizing a wide array of historical instruments and vocal techniques to create immersive soundscapes.

Viewed chronologically, Sowulo’s discography reads like a musical autobiography of Horbach’s spiritual path. ‘Alvenrad’ and ‘Sol’ looked outward to the natural world. ‘Mann’ turned inward to the psyche, a process Horbach has linked to his participation in a “shamanistic year course” aimed at personal initiation. ‘Wurdiz’ reached for the metaphysical, grappling with life’s abstract questions. Now, ‘NIHT’ confronts the raw, experiential reality of grief. Each album is a snapshot of the artist’s primary spiritual and psychological focus, making ‘NIHT’ not a random new direction, but the next logical, albeit painful, chapter in a deeply personal story.

Forging a Language of the Soul

Sowulo’s unique identity is forged from a specific blend of sound, language, and purpose that sets it apart within the burgeoning Nordic folk scene. While often compared to genre titans like Wardruna and Heilung, Sowulo occupies a distinct niche.

The project’s sonic arsenal is a fusion of historical and contemporary elements. Horbach, a multi-instrumentalist, leads on vocals, nyckelharpa, Irish bouzouki, and the imposing carnyx (a Celtic bronze horn), while the live ensemble is fleshed out with Celtic harp, extensive percussion, and a full string section of violin, viola, and cello. This combination creates a sound that is consistently described as “cinematic” and “atmospheric dark folk.”

A critical differentiator is the lyrical language. While the genre is broadly labeled “Nordic” or “Viking” folk, Sowulo’s lyrics are consistently Anglo-Saxon. This choice is foundational, connecting Horbach, a Dutch artist, to a broader West Germanic heritage rather than a purely Scandinavian one. It was the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon rune poem that sparked the concept for the pivotal ‘Mann’ album, cementing the language’s role not as flavor, but as a core component of the project’s identity.

In the pantheon of modern Nordic folk, Wardruna’s approach can be seen as more academic and skaldic, focused on musically interpreting the runes and weaving together ancient traditions into a contemplative, serious soundscape. Heilung, meanwhile, presents “amplified history,” a primal, immersive ritual performance that uses texts from historical artifacts and aims to re-animate the past in visceral, ceremonial live shows. Sowulo’s purpose is distinct from both. As one review of ‘Wurdiz’ astutely noted, the stress is “less on creating an authentic pagan sound… but rather on creating a shamanic musical tool that can take the listener on an inner journey.”

This distinction reframes the very idea of “authenticity” within the genre. While some projects pursue a fidelity to historical reconstruction, one critic rightly pointed out that “nobody has no bloody clue what pagan music actually sounded like,” praising Sowulo’s more personal goal as “far more realistic.” Horbach himself consistently describes his work as an expression of his personal “spiritual path.” The authenticity of Sowulo, therefore, is not one of historical reenactment, but of personal expression. Horbach uses ancient tools not to perfectly recreate a lost past, but to understand and articulate his own modern, subjective experience.

Conclusion

Sowulo stands at a profound threshold. A decade of artistic evolution, a deeply personal tragedy, a major new record deal, and an album that represents the most vulnerable expression of the project’s ethos have all converged. In a past interview, Faber Horbach posed a question he asks himself: “when you die, what will people remind you of?” ‘NIHT’ is, in many ways, his answer—an unflinching artistic confrontation with mortality, grief, and the shadows that give life meaning.

The album is the ultimate expression of the Sowulo philosophy. The project’s name means “Sun,” but a true understanding of light is impossible without an understanding of darkness. By journeying into ‘NIHT,’ Horbach is not abandoning his original concept; he is completing it. The album is a remarkable invocation to the concept that spiritual growth and clarity are often found not by chasing the light, but by having the courage to sit with the darkness and learn what it has to teach. In doing so, Sowulo has become a beacon for those navigating their own night, offering not an escape, but a guide through it.