After a short introductory video, "Skumring i Karesuando" is the first full song on Pastorialia's album. It abounds with lush mellotrons and synthesisers, lilting flute, idyllic acoustic guitar and hazy, eerie electric passages. The song ends with a fantastic funky keyboard part before a guitar solo that I would have liked to develop more, but even though it's brief, it's a great song.
The next track, "Mellom Mjødurt, Marisko og Søstermarihånd", follows in the same vein, albeit a little slower. Scandinavian folk and the softer side of prog easily combine into something simultaneously soothing, but also frightening and ominous. In the last minute of this song, the tension rises to a fever pitch, making for an impressive conclusion.
"Beitemark" opens on a rather jazzy base. The same bass clarinet(?) helps establish the rhythm, on which the melody builds with transparent guitar and shimmering keys. The individual ideas are very good, and it's not a fast-paced romp. "Vettedans" is another short folk interlude, but it sounds like it came off Gryphon's debut LP.
The ten-minute "Jord III" concludes "Pastoralia". It begins with a characteristic Jordsjø passage: flute and lush keyboards form a distinctive texture, while guitars with folk and jazz leanings build a leading line. After about five minutes of instrumental interplay of varying nature, a quiet narrative enters that does serious damage to the song's dynamics. This experience is similar to "Pastoralia" with its cyclical musical ideas, but the section with speech led "Jord III" to a drastic change of pace. Even after the narration ends, the song freezes, hardly moving forward at all.
