After years of independently releasing her music, Eivør's latest album, ENN, marks her debut with the metal label Season of Mist. Despite her compositions transcending traditional genre boundaries, she is thrilled to be embraced by the metal community. Eivør notes a shared pagan sensibility in her television scores, such as those for The Last Kingdom. “I never felt I really fit into any box,” she reflects. “I just have to do it my own way.” Recorded with her touring band in the Faroe Islands, Eivør describes ENN as both her most pleasurable and most painful project. “I felt that I was stepping into a place where I hadn’t been before, and that’s always scary because you don’t feel that you touch the ground. But it opens up your creativity and takes you to someplace new. It’s woven together all my experiences for the past 10 years, and it’s grounded me.”

Eivør's Nordic home in the remote Faroe Islands, a landscape of extremes, profoundly influenced the album. Situated in the North Atlantic Ocean just above Scotland and southeast of Iceland, the islands have a population of about 50,000. The climate, marked by dark, heavy winters and bright summers, mirrors the contrasts that inspired her work. Growing up in a small village of around 400 people, Eivør was deeply influenced by the Faroe Islands' intense connection to its folk music traditions. “A very strong part of Faroese culture is singing together - anywhere people gather, there will be singing,” she explains. “When you listen to old Faroese traditional music, it’s sung a capella and takes you back to its Renaissance roots. It’s pure, expressive, and untamed.”

Widely regarded as one of the most prolific and unique Nordic artists of her generation, Eivør has released 11 studio albums, continually crossing musical genres and defying expectations. Awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2021, her musical journey remains captivating. As a teenager, she was deeply involved in the local music scene, playing in jazz and rock bands influenced by Portishead, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Sigur Rós, and similar acts.

The creation of ENN built on Eivør's recent explorations in production and beat-making, beginning with a return to classical music. She and her partner, classical composer Tróndur Bogason, entered the studio without a specific agenda, aiming to "write freely" for a possible side project. “Slowly I realized, I shouldn’t think about this as a side project,” Eivør says. “This is where I am at right now creatively.”

Most of the lyrics, sung entirely in Faroese, were written in collaboration with Faroese poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs. Eivør describes the lyrics to the title track as especially “hardcore,” addressing the theme of war - “the wars that are going on in the world especially lately, but that have always been going on,” she says, “and how to find a glimpse of light in this overwhelming darkness.” The guttural penultimate track, “Upp Úr Øskuni,” stands out with its mix of growling beatboxing and visceral throat singing. Eivør views the track as a beacon of female empowerment and solidarity. “I wanted it to be wild and untamed. It’s quite witchy. When I wrote the song, I imagined a coven of witches from the past and the present all supporting each other, chanting to each other across the chasm of time.”