Austin Lunn went all in with the 2023 Panopticon album The Rime Of Memory. The one-man band is going even bigger today by announcing a folk album called Laruentian Blue and a black metal album titled Songs Of Hiraeth.
“The White Mountain View” serves as the lead single for Songs Of Hiraeth, which is made of re-mixed and remastered tracks from their catalog. About that LP, Lunn said:
Songs Of Hiraeth: The album that never happened.
All of these songs were written and recorded from 2009 to 2011. During this time period, I wrote a lot of music. Bek and I were traveling a lot…I was new to traveling outside of the country, and so seeing Northern Europe for the first time impacted me greatly. We were in our twenties, no kids, no real responsibilities… just working our jobs and being around our community… and with what money we could save, we traveled. Just the two of us. Typically in remote places in the north of the USA, or in Northern Europe.
It was the first time I had experienced those eco systems, and it had a profound effect on me and the kind of music I was writing. In particular, "On The Subject Of Mortality." The material on this record was either used for splits with friends bands (the first 3 being from a split with Wheels within Wheels) or simply sat on a computer to be forgotten, intended for splits that never materialized. The only material that ever made it to vinyl was the 2 songs that were on the split with Vestiges, which were the last to be written and recorded of this material. It’s been an enjoyable project going back into the sessions, remixing them and cleaning them up, revisiting that nostalgic time in our life together. It looks a lot better in the rear view mirror, as most things do, but I look back on it all fondly.
Bek took all the photos on our camping tour in Norway…most of it was taken in the Sunndalsøra area. Some was taken in Drammen, where we lived for a short time a couple years later. The cover is two photos I had always wanted to use as album covers but never got the chance, combined. I did a painting of the mountains for The Rime Of Memory. The others were taken along the highway in locations unknown near the Swedish border. Our friend Death metal Dave did back up vocals on "The End Is Growing Near" back in 2009 or 10. Spenser Morris did the editing, remixing and mastering over the past year or so (2024-2025).
Thanks to Bek for being my adventure partner and giving me a nudge out the door, to Spenser for making this come to life, to all my Louisville friends who sat in my basement drinking beer with me while I worked on these songs a decade and a half ago. And thanks to you for listening to this. Don’t let the fire burn out.
Meanwhile “This Mortal Coil Is Rusted” is the lead single for Laruentian Blue. Listen to both singles below.
Laruentian Blue TRACKLIST:
01 “A Liberation Song”
02 “The Poetry In Road Kill”
03 “Ever North (Laurentian Blue)”
04 “Dialogue (I Want To Be Alone)”
05 “Flowers In The Ditch”
06 “An Argument With God”
07 “Irony And Actuallity”
08 “Down Along The Border”
09 “This Mortal Coil Is Rusted”
10 “Broken Bars”
11 “Ely In The Dark”
Songs Of Hiraeth TRACKLIST:
01 “The Road To Bergen”
02 “From Bergen To Jotunheimen”
03 “The White Mountain View”
04 “Haunted America II”
05 “The End Is Growing Near”
06 “A Letter”
07 “The Eulogy”
Laruentian Blue and Songs Of Hiraeth are out 8/15 via Birdrune Recordings. Pre-order them here.
