you might have noticed in the sidebar that i'm listening to music by hildur guðnadóttir. hardly a household name (as are so many of the musicians i listen to), but all the same an amazingly talented woman who crafts powerful soundscapes with her cello.
a trip over to hildur's website reveals that she began playing the cello when she was a child. after a stint at the reykjavík music academy she moved on to musical studies/composition and new media at the iceland academy of the arts and universitat der kunste in berlin.
since that time she has been involved with a number of projects and bands including the kitchen motors think tank, the band angel, dirk, mum and pan sonic. her own albums include mount a, under the artist name lost in the hildurness, and a lovely piece of work (available on itunes astonishingly) with field recording artist and performer bj nilsen.
her latest release entitled "without sinking", was composed and recorded in berlin and reykjavík. on "without sinking", hildur plays cello, zither, processors and voice and is accompanied by skúli sverrisson on bass and processors, jóhann jóhannsson on organs and processors, and guðni franzson on clarinet and bass clarinet. the sound is dense and mystical, sometimes overwhelmingly lush and then also filled with colour and emotion.
sonic connections i make would go directly to brian eno's take on pachelbel's canon - discreet music.
here is a video made of the faster than sound festival back in 2007 using hildur's music accompanied by some footage of her playing.
hildur's myspace site has four selections from her previous album as well as a small stack of videos of her playing including one lovely piece of brian eno's music for airports and this exquisite piece entitled the ghost ship (calling all...)
hildur in the woods . . . .
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