Harvest from dead soil put to music – Fields of Mildew is a German minimalist dark folk project channelling both the cruel hardship and austere beauty of human dwelling in unforgiving surroundings. Like its thematic content, this is a musical journey traversing both hope and despair. Immersive melodies and catchy vocal lines are shrouded in discordant harmonies to produce an atmosphere fit to mirror the human spirit pushed to the limits of despair. The result is something akin to a fusion of a stripped-down Prag 83, Katatonia, Tenhi, and Western Skies Motel. “The Complete Woes” is a sixfold threnody in remembrance of dissolution. A stroll through your sorrows in the tints of night and nostalgia. Presented in an ambitious CD Digipak, the first three songs were taken from the sold-out 2019 EP, “A Triad Of Incomplete Woes”, whereas the remaining three are previously unreleased. R, the musician behind Fields of Mildew, prefers to remain in the background and instead let his musical creations speak for themselves. Consequently, not much is known about the project. It was founded in 2015, initially as a vehicle to explore concepts pertaining to the Teufelsmoor area of Northern Germany – in particular the brave souls who tried to carve out a living there in the 19th and 20th centuries. In modern German, Teufelsmoor literally translates to ‘Devil’s Moor’. However, it’s original meaning was something akin to ‘unfertile ground’. Both appear to be equally appropriate for this place, which is rife with human tragedy and dark superstition. And this is what the three first EPs – “I”, “II”, and “III” – were based on. In subsequent releases, Fields of Mildew started drifting conceptually while still remaining rooted in the rural melancholia and whispered folkloric tales. The common denominator being the eternal duality of mortal existence – birth and death, light and shadow. Study the images in the booklet, then close your eyes and envision them while taking in the music.