DAVID GRANSTRÖM, Empty Room - LP

Release date - April 2th 2021
Catalogue nr. - HG2102
Format - Vinyl / digital
Hallow Ground

hallowground.bandcamp.com

Tracklist:
1) Obsidian 09:22
2) Aeon 10:56
3) Sapphire Visions 04:50
4) Occultations 10:08
5) Transience 04:45

Credits:
All tracks composed, recorded, performed and mixed by David Granström 
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Photography by Aron Mattsson
Cover design by Greenpointless

///
On »Empty Room,« David Granström works with slow transformations, cyclical and isometric patterns as well as just intonation as a way to create harmonic stability, allowing his long-form pieces to develop their own unique temporal and spatial qualities. A prolific figure in Stockholm’s experimental drone scene and a collaborator of Hallow Ground label mates Maria W Horn and Mats Erlandsson, the Swedish composer navigates through moments of quietude and crushing volume on these five tracks. Sonically and atmospherically, the pieces on »Empty Room« simultaneously call to mind Fennesz’s most meditative work or the physical experience of seeing Sunn O))) live, blending guitar recordings and synthesised sounds with forceful effects similar to those of Mario Díaz de Leon’s Oneirogen project while still being as moving and delicate as Alessandro Cortini’s solo work. The album is marked by melodies and harmonies that are the product of a peculiar working process that turned the composer into an intent listener collaborating with, rather than simply using technology. 

Having been invited by the self-organising artist group The Non Existent Center for a residency to Ställbergs Gruva, a defunct iron ore mine in Sweden’s Bergslagen region, Granström took his guitar as a starting point for his compositional work that heavily relies on real-time sound synthesis. »I seldomly use the instrument as a sound source in the final compositions and rather transcribe and orchestrate the harmonic structures using sound synthesis,« he explains. »On this album however, I chose to include the actual recordings of the guitar in order to extend the spectra between non-referential synthetic sounds and embodied referential sounds.« Working with precise tunings in order to blend the timbre of the synthesis with the harmonic structures of the composition, he created composite sound objects in which the harmonic elements blend into each other. 

Through the re-amplification of synthetic musical materials from the inside of the abandoned mine, his original compositions were enriched with site-specific sound qualities before he further refined them in a singular working process. Granström works with algorithmic and generative processes, using the SuperCollider programming environment and thus blurring the lines between generative and creative forms of composition. »One of the things that I like about this way of working is that it creates a distance between myself as a composer and myself as a listener of the music that is produced entirely by the system,« he says. Granström’s technologically aided eschewing of the conventions of composing doesn’t make the end result any less personal, however. By listening again and again to the newly generated output, Granström simply took on a different role in the process of finalising the music, with the technology and the sounds becoming his co-authors. 

By creating systems that generate music, he gains a new perspective on (musical) time, says Granström. »There doesn't have to be a fixed length to the music at all,« he explains. »And by writing music with this in mind, my focus tends to shift towards writing cyclical structures that gradually change and transform over time.« Simple parts, in other words, that emerge as the five complex wholes that form »Empty Room,« a record that itself seems to take on different forms with every new listen.

DAVID GRANSTRÖM - Occultations (HG2102)

@dj_candle
art by @fru_tto

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Víkingur Ólafsson - Gigues en rondeau 1 & 2
Felix Mendelssohn, Murray Perahia - Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 67, No. 2
Johann Sebastian Bach, Simone Dinnerstein - English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: V. Gavotte I/II
Domenico Scarlatti, Lucas Debargue - Sonata in E Major, K. 531
Edvard Grieg, Denis Kozhukhin - Lyrical Pieces, Op. 54 (Excerpts): No. 4, Notturno
Federico Mompou - Variaciones sobre un tema di Chopin: Variation 8: Andante dolce espresivo
Marin Marais, Jordi Savall - Improvisations sur les foiles d’Espagne (extraits)
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Virginia Black - Suite in D Major, RCT3: II. Les Soupirs
Luiz Bonfá - Chopin
Enrique Granados, Alicia de Larrocha, Conchita Badía - Tonadillas: El mirar de la maja
Federico Mompou, Alicia de Larrocha - Impresiones intimas: 8. Secreto
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Marcelle Meyer - Suite en la mineur: Allemande
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Alexandre Tharaud - Suite en La: Les Trois Mains
Enrique Granados, Miquel Farre - Valsos poètics (poetic waltzes): Vals No. 2
Maurice Ravel, Håkon Austbø - I Prélude; Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17)
Carl Friedrich Abel, Paolo Pandolfo - Viola de Gamba Suite in D Major: X. Minuetto
Claude Debussy, Vikíngur Ólafsson - Préludes/ Book 1, L. 117: VI. Des pas sur la neige
George Friderich Handel, Murray Perahia - Suite No. 3 in D Minor, HWV 428: Adagio
Maurice Ravel, Håkon Austbø - Menuet sur le nom de Haydn (1909)
hew - song from blue crown molding

f032 - hew - spinning

live set recorded for room2.fm online show on October 8, 2021. a mix of new and old fav textures (shiny, silky, swishy, fuzzy, hissy) and an ode to the sea, which I miss because my lockdown radius doesn't reach.
Thankyou to Raag Bhatia and Patrick Hase for hosting, designing and curating the room2.fm events.

Room2.fm Live Set

From the upcoming album:
Hallow Ground presents: EPIPHANIES
Release date - March 25th 2022
Format - Double-vinyl / digital
White vinyl, gatefold cover, silver stamped, spot-gloss printed
Catalogue nr. - HG2222
Hallow Ground

hallowground.bandcamp.com

Tracklist:

1) Remo Seeland (with Laya Ensemble) - Baldachin
2) A Frei - Peri-Acoustic Feedbacks
3) Maria W Horn - Oinones Death pt. I
4) Amosphère – Withinside

5) FUJI||||||||||TA - Kumo
6) Lawrence English - Outside The City of God (Augustine wept)
7) Samuel Savenberg - The Endless Present
8) Siavash Amini - Spuming Silver

9) Magda Drozd - Suspended Stream
10) Akira Sileas - Excerpt from Piano Study
11) Laurin Huber - Puolipilvistä (Partly Cloudy)
12) Norman Westberg - For Alice

13) Miki Yui - Alternatio
14) Reinier van Houdt - Dream Tract
15) Valentina Magaletti - The Narrower Frame
16) Martina Lussi - Losing Ground

///
On Epiphanies, the first-ever "concept-compilation" to be released by Hallow Ground, artists such as Maria W Horn, FUJI||||||||||TA, Lawrence English, Siavash Amini and Norman Westberg, who all have previously released music on the Swiss label, were commissioned to pursue a non-rational creative process in approaching the phenomenon of epiphany through sound. In very different ways, all of the compositions on the compilation draw on the unique emotional powers of certain acoustic instruments, obfuscating the borders between physicality and abstraction. 

The results, whether long-form, short vignettes, profane and concrete sounds or spiritual and abstract pieces, perfectly encapsulate what Hallow Ground as a label has stood for since its inception in the year 2013: challenging not only conventional notions of what music is supposed to sound like but also the listeners’ perception through the power of sound. 

On Epiphanies, Hallow Ground also welcomes artists including Magda Drozd, Akira Sileas and Valentina Magaletti to make their first ever contributions to the label.

For those who greet this compilation with open ears and minds, these 81 minutes will deliver on its title.

Maria W Horn - Oinones Death Pt  I (from EPIPHANIES)

What Did You Say Before That?

Active volcano recorded from the top, at the edge of the crater, during the night. 

Recorded by a DoubleMS Setup by Schoeps, CCM41+CCM8+CCM4 (in a Cinela Windscreen),
an AB Setup by DPA Microphones, 2 x 4006,
and a Geofon by LOM Audio.
On a Sound Devices 833 recorder.
Original recording in 192kHz, 24bit.
This sound has been edited and mixes the different sources.

GPS: -19.530189, 169.445493
Recorded on 6th of November 2022, between 6:30pm and 8:30pm.

Tanna Island

Volcano Mount Yasur, Tanna Island

A lush morning chorus at the edge of the forest/marsh near Durras Lake in Murramarang National Park. Located on the south coast of NSW, Australia.
Bibrons Toadlet's chant loudly yet sparsely at the marshes edge while a mixture of forest/marsh birds sing in the cool humid air. The droning ebb and flow of the waves crashing into the sands of Durras Beach are a constant sonic presence here. A distinctly Australian song.
Recorded in early April, 2015.
My deepest respect to the rightful owners of this land, the Yuin people, past and present, who used to live and roam across this beautiful place.

Morning Songs By Durras Lake

snf04 : giuseppe ielasi "even when they speak of space" out dec.15th 2017.

music for whistling, microphone and digital degradation. 
recorded in november 2016 and august 2017. 
to be played at low volume.

www.senufoeditions.com

snf04 : giuseppe ielasi "even when they speak of space" part 1

Geelriandre - Arthesis LP available for pre-order now via ImportantRecords.com

Morning Songs By Durras Lake

jeremy hegge

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