Customer Reviews

Without Sinking

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is dark, dense, and brooding. The sky is gray. Winter is refusing to leave. Wind becomes the rhythm; dissonance - the melody. In the delicate hands of the Berlin-based (but Icelandic by birth) Hildur Gušnadóttir, the cello whispers and moans. Perhaps it's grieving for an uncertain future, perhaps accepting a buried past. The voice of sorrow seeps through the trembling fingers and saturates everything around it with something invisible, but wet and salty. Then, a heavy, thick and warm knot builds up inside my chest. And when I sigh, it escapes in a condensed vapor, ascends past the naked tree tops and joins a dark cloud in a stubborn winter sky. Finally the rain falls. And I cringe at all the pain. Hildur Gušnadóttir is not a newcomer to the scene. As a classically trained cellist, she has previously performed with and contributed to works by her Icelandic contemporary artists such as múm, Valgeir Siguršsson, and Ben Frost, as well as Hafler Trio, Nico Muhly, and even Pan Sonic. For Without Sinking she was able to round up a talented group of friends, like Skúli Sverrisson, the prolific Jóhann Jóhannsson, and her father, Gušni Franzson. Dropping all of the above names should give you a brief idea of the circle that Gušnadóttir revolves in. I guess it's not surprising, since she is an active member in the neu-Iceland collective, Kitchen Motors. This is _the_ Reykjavík music scene think tank, owned and operated by Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kira Kira, and Hilmar Jensson. Without any exaggerations, this is indeed an acoustic modern classical marvel. Absolutely a must for this year! Add Without Sinking and Gušnadóttir's previous works to your collection. The debut album Mount A (12 Tónar, 2006) was originally released under the moniker Lost in the Hildurness. Her recent one-track complimentary release to the album, Iridescence (Touch, 2009), is only available as a digital download, as part of a new series of digital singles launched by Touch on April 1st. On May 16th, 2009, Hildur Gušnadóttir is scheduled to perform for Short Circuit, A Festival of Electronica, during a Touch showcase along with BJ Nilsen, Philip Jeck and the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, and [back on the road!] Biosphere!!! If you're anywhere around The Roundhouse in London, please go... For me...

I got turned onto Without Sinking by a friend who blogs, Headphone Commuter. She thought it was one of the year's best and on several playings, I agree. It's hard to classify music. Ms. Gudnadottir has some training in classical music and is a proficient cellist. She is comfortable with electronica, so the music she produces has both a strong melodic component and some studio manipulation. She credits two other musicians but this is essentially a solo project. This is great stuff to listen to on a long drive in the country on a rainy day. It is not clearly contemporary classic, but won't seem foreign to someone who digs Bartok chamber music, not clearly ambient although it, like much ambient, lacks a large rhythm component. It ain't rock and roll. Because it is without much vocal, it doesn't resemble oh, say, Emily Wells or Joan as Policewoman, or Bat for Lashes all of whom are good instrumentalists as well as singer songwriters. It is well recorded, doesn't readily fall into any identifiable catagory, and is very original and refreshing. Give it a listen with an open mind and ears, you will be surprised and pleased.

This is emotional music.The notes hang in the air and cut into your soul. If your looking for technical virtuosity then this is probably not what your looking for. this is ambient string music where each note seems to hang and float before another note takes flight.Its emotional and moody and requires the right situation to really find the benefits of this music. It requires the listener to really listen and in return you will be richly rewarded. It has slightly darker tones and gentle delicate feeling of loss and despair, but always beautiful.I think the idea of less is more would apply here.the real power to this music is in the emotional feeling rather than being overtly clever. I initially thought this music was boring and a series of slightly unconnected notes being played on a cello, nice but a little slow and disjointed with too much space between the notes but after a few listens i now love this music. The space that is created throughout each piece is as important as the actual playing.great stuff indeed.

I've gotten seduced by some of the reviews I've read recently of this kind of music (thank you, Headphone Commute...). Some of it is OK (Max Richter, Johann Johannsson), but this album is pretty grim. Graceless sawing away at a cello, nothing really happening melodically or rhythmically, relentlessly plodding minor key heaving. Music to blow your brains out in your ice-fishing cabin.... So the frozen North is gray and gloomy. This isn't exactly earth-shaking news. Dull stuff.