JONATHAN HULTÉN
Black metal guitarist turns otherworldly folk singer-songwriter.
IN HIS BAND Tribulation, guitarist Jonathan Hultén hurls himself around the stage with manic abandon, more creature than person. But on his debut solo album, Chants From Another Place, he’s embracing the warm tones of choral and folk music while singing about being human. It’s a world away from his day job.
“It’s really different,” he admits. “Musically, this is so much about stillness, and in another way, it’s about vocal precision. Whereas in Tribulation, it’s mostly about letting yourself expand, explode, working yourself into ecstasy. It’s like going temporarily insane and really expressing yourself as much as you can physically, until you don’t even know you’re yourself - you’re just one with the music.”