"Mike Oldfield on ketamine." A twisted journey into the dark heart of Yuletide.

Peel back the colourful paper — the enforced gaiety and extravagance of a consumerist Christmas, or the vestiges of Christianity — and there’s something very different underneath. For many people, the holiday season is burdened by unwelcome emotions. Anxiety, grief and loneliness feel all the more overwhelming because there’s an assumption that ‘negativity’ shouldn’t be shared. Lunatraktors believe we should stop shutting out the shadows. Holly, ivy and fir trees, wreaths, fires and mistletoe: these things go back a long, long way. There’s a reason Christmas used to be a time to tell ghost stories. Yule is the dark heart of the year, the midwinter solstice and the longest night. Let’s go out into the night, let’s free our feral selves to howl our pain and defiance, to dance in the frozen moonlight and the flickering of the fire.

Yulatraktors – Solstice Wyrd

Solstice Wyrd (Gapless)

Remember The Poor (Radio Edit)

Lully Lullay (Radio Edit)

Horns And Hooves In The Dark (Radio Edit)

The third track from a still-unreleased album New Myths, with Carli Jefferson on foley percussion and Clair Le Couteur on vocals and piano. Inspired by classic horror: Island of Lost Souls (1932), The Wolf Man (1941)...

Must've hit my head or something, I woke up on the ground. Naked and with blood under my nails.

I'mon get out of this. I'mon get out of this.

Picked up my feet, started walking with the trees as my guide; remembering that moss only grows on the North side (I think). I was ravening, so hungry when I found meat on the ground, I couldn't help myself. It looked just like steak.

Picked it up, dusted it off, and tucked in with the blood dripping down my neck. I'mona get out of this, I'mona get myself together, I'mona find my way back to civilization. Civilization.

And then, and then, I remembered some crazy dream; I was the king of the wolves, and the woods were bright with moonlight and with blood. And with the blood on my lips, so came these words,
'I won't end up eating people, I won't end up being one of them.'

I'mon get out of this. I'mon get out of this. I'mon get out of this.

As I walked on through the woods, I came upon a road finally and this car in a ditch and this girl, messed up pretty bad. She said,
'Oh my god, oh my god. Did that thing... did that thing come after you too? Where are your clothes?'

And I said,
'Must've hit my head or something; I woke up on the ground, naked and with blood under my nails. But don't worry, we can get out of this, we can get out of this.'

But as I came close, reached out my hand, 'Oh my god,' she said, 'what is wrong with your eyes? Yellow. Feral.'

I reached out my hand but the pain was like a hive of bees. She had silver chains around her wrist. She had silver chains around her wrist. And I said.
'Are we not men? Or are we beasts pretending to be king? I'm not a man, I am a wolf, pretending to be a man.'

I'mon get outta this the next time the moon sets me free and never look back, and never look back. I'mon get outta this skin. I'mon get outta this skin. I'mon get outta this skin. I'mon get outta this.

Peter And The Wolf

Black Raven is a new English mis-translation of a traditional Cossack folk song that is well known in Russia, reworked through the lens of English folk and blues. We found it while researching world music about corvids – crows, ravens, magpies – which are a kind of clan emblem for us. The tune feels soaring, magnetic, with extremely deep roots. Something in the melody transports us, seems to open up a landscape, a trans-temporal space of connection with something very big, and very old, and very dark.

Special thanks to Sophie J of Thetford Grammar School, who won our competition to design the Black Raven image.

This Is Broken Folk

Black Raven

Jim Jones is a traditional English / Australian ballad about a man who is transported to the notorious British 'Botany Bay' penal colony for the petty crime of poaching. We sing it in solidarity with all those around the world who face colonial abuse and miscarriages of justice.

LUNATRAKTORS

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