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)

A dual contact microphone recording of a temporary wind harp.

Recorded 15 February 2021 at Walltown Crags, Northumberland, UK.
54°59'24.0"N 2°30'46.0"W
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/GLVb4qVRaCbDXk8y9

Part of the Hidden-by-the-Wall Open Remix project:
soundcloud.com/zoviet-france/sets/hidden-by-the-wall-open-remix/

© 2021 This recording is made available under creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wind Harp, Walltown Crags

0521 31 Lv 1 Crsh Arg 1 (egress)

In his book 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒, Mark Fisher wrote about the two notions: While the weird is something present where it doesn’t belong—something from outside found on the inside—the eerie has to do specifically with outside space. Something is eerie when there are unanswered questions about agency: Who or what is responsible for the abandonment of this zone? Who or what is crying out in the distance?

Katharina Schmidt’s 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, a single, longform track stretching to a near half hour, deftly captures this spatial sense of the eerie. The evolving drone is like coming upon a ruin, circling it, and being drawn inside. There are no surprises, no sudden horrors, just the strange pull of oscillating waveforms that paint a bleak yet soothing landscape.

In certain kinds of listeners, empty, abandoned spaces produce a pleasurable dejection. Maybe this is because spaces where human life is evacuated represent the end result of capital. (It seems to have withered away, but is in fact off to find another shell for its home.) What we’re left with is something new to inhabit, a new infrastructure for freedom. The subtle changes in Schmidt’s recording have less to do with melody and rhythm, more to do with accumulating color and texture of space. And so the half hour can feel like five minutes, or an eternity—time and scale exist differently here.

---

After years of playing drums and piano in various bands, Katharina Schmidt's solo work is influenced by indie, experimental, and improvised music. Exploring interests in storytelling, sonic topographies, and generative techniques, her music uses electronics, field recordings, and self-built interfaces alongside acoustic instruments. From sonifications to lullabies, her work is poised between formal experimentation and narratives cued by literature and pop culture, and can be heard in installations, film music, and radiophonic pieces, as well as releases on labels such as Flag Day Recordings, Slaapwel Records, and Focused Silence.

Katharina holds a master’s degree in Sound Studies from the Berlin University of the Arts and hosts resident shows at Cashmere Radio and SVS Radio.

katharina-schmidt.net
katharinaschmidt.bandcamp.com  

artwork by Stefan Lingg
audio finalized by Glyn Maier

all proceeds to The Homeless Period Project (Greenville, SC, US) - www.homelessperiodproject.org

Tennis Courts in the Half Light

Katharina Schmidt - Tennis Courts In The Half Light [Excerpt] (ENMD03)

From the album: øjeRum - Støvfald

Physical copies and digital downloads available here:
http://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com

Sound In Silence is happy to announce the return of øjeRum, presenting his new album Støvfald.

This is his second album on the label after the highly acclaimed Alting Falder I Samme Rum in 2019.

øjeRum is the solo project of musician and collage artist Paw Grabowski, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. For over a decade, he has been producing his sublime music, ranging from atmospheric ambient to experimental folk, having released several albums and EPs on labels such as Fluid Audio, Eilean Rec., Shimmering Moods Records, Champion Version, Unknown Tone Records and many others.

Støvfald consists of two long-form compositions of dark ambient, with a total duration of 60 minutes, captivating the listener with its atmospheric textures and hypnotic soundscapes. The album, built around layers of swelling hypnotic drones and minimal guitar melodies, started taking shape last year on Grabowski’s birthday when he was watching Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker while playing and recording some music inspired by the film.
Støvfald is an evocatively atmospheric album with a dreamlike quality, carefully mastered by George Mastrokostas (aka Absent Without Leave) and highly recommended for devotees of Windy & Carl, Eluvium, Benoît Pioulard and Fennesz.

Støvfald comes in two distinct editions.

The first one is a deluxe limited edition of 100 handmade, hand-stamped and hand-numbered collectible copies. The disc of this edition includes three exclusive bonus tracks, not included in the other edition or the digital download. It is packaged in a lovely sewn fabric envelope, which includes a 4 panel insert sheet containing tracklist and information printed on a 250 gsm olive yellow recycled cardboard and the front cover image printed on a polaroid style photo paper. It also comes bundled with a download code coupon and a Sound In Silence card.

The second one is a limited edition of 200 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies. It is packaged in a lovely hand-stamped 127mm x 127mm 250 gsm olive yellow recycled cardboard envelope with the front cover image printed on a polaroid style photo paper and an insert sheet containing tracklist and information printed on a 170 gsm mocha brown cardboard. It also comes bundled with a download code coupon and a Sound In Silence card.

øjeRum - Aftenrøde (excerpt)

This is a short compilation of excerpts from the piece "Devolve" taken from the upcoming album "Devolving Trust".
.
Erik K Skodvin's alter persona “Svarte Greiner” re-appears with another chapter in his “zen music for disturbed souls” series, channeling both spiritual distress and meditation in a live recording from the bunkers of a bombed out brewery.
.
CD + Digital. Feb 25th 2022.

Svarte Greiner - Devolve (excerpts)

Cloistered Anatomy

GRFTPS020
Carlos Ferreira -In Praise of Shadows
limited edition cassette / digital - now on bandcamp

https://giraffetapes.bandcamp.com/album/in-praise-of-shadows

In Praise of Shadows

B2. Carlos Ferreira - The Excluded [GRFTPS020]

ambient cover of formula by labrinth by me and seeyouthere 💙

formula (ambient version) w/ seeyouthere

Gravity

Ultramarine

www.soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/soundinsilencerecords
www.twitter.com/soundinsilence_

Sound In Silence is a boutique record label, focused on limited edition releases presented in collectible handmade packaging with beautiful cover designs.
/ / / /
Mastering, mixing & production services.

øjeRum - Aftenrøde (excerpt)

sound in silence

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