Crawl

Acclaimed Icelandic theremin musician Hekla returns with Turnar, her third album of devastatingly heavy, spectral soundscape-songwriting, entering a sublime paranormal plane of haunting dread.

Now augmenting her virtuosic solo theremin work with cello, voice, and the sacred church organ of Icelandic master Kristján Hrannar, the evolution of Hekla’s unique magic summons new worlds with Turnar. The album was recorded partly in (and named after) a medieval castle tower in rural France, its ruinous black broken in spare beams of angelic stained-glass light. But, writes Hekla, “the sound of theremin kind of opens up a portal into a new realm that both looks into a dark old world and to the future.” The record is an alternately beautiful and crushing space voyage into a glacial underworld cascading with phosphorescence and cave drip, conjuring ancient choral ritual just as readily as redolent sci-fi gloam.

With its dark ambient textures, “Var” delicately places sonic artefacts about a desolate negative space, creating a dense inverse gravity. As with the rest of the album, a claustrophobic gauze hangs over the music that could otherwise be called subverted songwriting, aligning Hekla’s sonics with avant-garde, musique concréte and sound-art.

Hekla is a rare specialist of the theremin, a notoriously inscrutable electronic instrument, joining a miniscule group of musicians in mastery of its esoteric mysteries. Classically informed, her playing covers an enormous range, from skittering birdsong of chirrups and chirps to tectonic sub-bass. Her fans in the wider music community - PJ Harvey, for example - describe her style alongside musicians such as Colleen, Julia Holter or the late Jóhann Jóhannsson.

Turnar is Hekla’s third album, following 2018 debut Á, 2020 EP Sprungur, and 2022’s Xiuxiuejar.

Turnar

Hekla - Var

190624.62

Case_2

he will not swallow stones
there is no branch to hold
eyes of silk
skin of milk
to think of it makes me sick

she doesn't know where it goes
stick of wood
mouth of rose
softly kiss
velvet lips
secrets are dimly lit

her head is on your lap
soft cheek
sweet milk in her mouth

she doesn't know where it goes
skin of milk
mouth of rose
softly kiss velvet lips
to think of it
makes me sick

I started writing this at age 16/17 - i kept the structure but re wrote the lyrics to fit with how I feel 8 years later ( I kept 'her head is on your lap
soft cheek
sweet milk in her mouth' from the original)

Milk Skin - demo

b̸͙̯̹̟͔̞̰̖̩̯̑͆̆̃́̓̾́͌́̅͋̓̚͜ͅa̸̠̗͚̺͙̭͍̋͊̀̉͌̌͊̌͌͘͠c̶̫͉̙̗͔̀͗̒͛̕͝k̵̛̹̲̱̫͙̱̲̤͚͆͗̆̓̿̎̐͐̂̃̕s̵͙͔̣̤̰̤̖͕̆̌̊̔t̸̡͔͕̝͕̣͎̦͑̌͆̓̋̆̋̄̓̍̏̎͝a̶̧̢̗͔̱͖͇̎̈̐̂͂̅͒̽̐̈̌̚̚̕͜͝ͅb̸̠̗͇͓̗̼̫͕͇̭̈́̓̽̕̕̚̕ͅ

i crave the inbetween
the only place im free is under my tree
i tie my Hair in twine
and i can give you this but don't take what's mine

you know what they say
when it's going good
it's really going great
and as he shoves me away
in this cat's cradle is where I'll stay

the wooden wizard is watching me
the wooden wizard is who i want to see

you can take your time
i'll get mine
you can take your time
but i'll get mine

written 2021


Produced by : Selthe
Songwriter, Guitar & Vocals: Lottie Morton
Drums: Szymon Zdunek
Bass: Kamil Gacikowski
Viola: Gamaliel Rendle Traynor
Mastering Engineer: Simon Stokes
Cover Image by Daniel Morton