Jethro Tull’s new album, RökFlöte, drops Friday, and for their latest release frontman Ian Anderson was inspired by the characters and gods of old Norse mythology and paganism, in part because he didn’t know much about it.
“The reason that I had rather ignored that in my studies of comparative religion over the many years is because it was somewhat overworked in terms of holding a dark fascination,” he tells ABC Audio. “But then I thought, well, that shouldn’t be a good reason to put me off.”
Anderson says he wanted to approach the subject “in a sensitive way,” one that “allows me to look at that particular subject matter without feeling that I’m imitating some Norwegian heavy metal band.”
Anderson says he has no expectations about what Jethro Tull fans may take away from the record, noting, “I’m not trying to sell them a particular set of ideas or a particular set of beliefs. I’m just suggesting, you know, here are some lyrics, here’s some music, and you examine it, see if you like it.”
RökFlöte is Jethro Tull’s second album in two years, following 2022’s The Zealot Gene. And it doesn’t sound like Anderson has any intention of slowing down. He says he’s already started work on the band’s next project, sharing, “I will be turning my attention to that again during the weeks and months to come.”
RökFlöte is available for preorder now.
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