This work was inspired by the deep ocean, the pressure, the darkness and the fact that there are amazing creatures down there creating their own light, brightening up their surroundings via bioluminescence.
Atmospheric disturbances through minimalist compositions
This work was inspired by the deep ocean, the pressure, the darkness and the fact that there are amazing creatures down there creating their own light, brightening up their surroundings via bioluminescence. Using chemical reactions these lifeforms become pockets of lights in the otherwise pitch-black, harsh environment they live in.
“This release is dedicated to my father, Magnús Helgi Ólafsson, who died just before I started working on it. His favourite orchestra was the nature orchestra. He took me to sea as a child and taught me to respect nature and my fellow human beings, especially those that might be less fortunate.”
For me the mood is relaxing, it takes concentration to lift the action out of the silence, things are happening in the distance so a close listening is rewarded. Due to the low frequencies this release contains it demands the listener to use a good set of headphones or speakers. It makes no sense in listening to it on lesser playback systems. For much of the adventure, the sound level overall is very low, allowing for a listener to take some time trying to figure out what is happening, which is not necessary. A breeze through an abandoned factory does not require definition. I am not finding the track titles to be very descriptive of the actual sound, they suggest something specific but to me they do not connect, sound and name, which does not remove from the listening in any way, in fact the semantic contrast adds something, the collisions and implosions are not explosive, they are not upsetting, they are hard to find if they are there at all. As I listen, maybe this all takes place on an atomic level, there is no chaotic or kinetic density.
Always engaging and transmissive ::
The first track is “Uninvited Guests of The Inhospitable Sea” (19:15), and I hear dramatic sound events, perhaps a recording of a dark old warehouse quietly guarded by cruel robots. In the darkness the action emerges and fades in sparse cycles, there is an atmosphere of neutral emotions, not angry and not capering, it just is. I do not hear any angry water, no troubled seascape but I am not disappointed. No unpleasant visitors, in fact, the mood is industrial and minimalistic. As I drift about, there is lots of open space in the seascape. As the story unfolds, the pace is slow, without any instrumental presences, and sometimes it gets very quiet, perhaps the action is more distant? They seem remote and non-melodic, but always engaging and transmissive.
Now the mood is changing slowly as new presences are established, “Currents Collide” (2:42) fades in and stays remote and melody-free, always nothing is smashing into anything else, the sounds ebb and flow but at a distance, a spooky place. I think that something is out there but it is hard to perceive, it is just present and requires no effort to interpret because not much is happening, just very delicate quiet activity, motion far from the center of our awareness so we must listen much more carefully. “Sub-photic scenario” (11:30) breaks, quietly emerging and very subtle, something big and made of metal is vibrating. Through the process, very slowly it is getting closer but it is not threatening. Or is it?
Now things get very quiet, sort of a false ending but the track still rolls on, the last minutes are all about emptiness. Begin “The inward bursting force of implosion” (6:57), this title definitely makes me think there is going to be some violence or a noisy event, but in fact what I hear is a very slow fade in. So far the sound is a distant breeze with some slight hissing, but now there might be some metallic aspects to the distant breeze. Overall, there are no big events here, the whole album is a very subtle exploration of various distant objects, and I am sticking with the abandoned factory at night mise en scene.
Runar Magnusson is an Icelandic/Danish sound artist and musician, currently based in Austria. With a masters degree in Electronic Music Composition from The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/DK, he is inspired by the sounds of nature, noise, and meditation. Magnusson specializes in atmospheric disturbances through minimalist compositions. While an oppressive hue is often cast upon Magnusson’s work, it is nevertheless always drafted with a sly trace of humor. Magnusson has worked extensively in theatre in Denmark, made music for numerous performances for companies such as Reumert winner Kristjan Ingimarsson Company, Wunderland & Wilma Version. He has worked with surround sound, playing multi channel concerts at various locations, in churches, galleries, clubs and theaters located throughout the world including China, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Mexico, Scandinavia, Canada and the USA.
Magnusson is the cofounder of Hljódaklettar, a boutique record label he founded with Sabrina Joy for the purposes of releasing rare, limited, and collectible music and organizing events of art and music. He is one half of the experimental duo Vindva Mei w/ Petur Eyvindsson (aka DJ Musician) and he recently launched the sound art duo Edition# together with Danish based sound artist Yann Coppier (FR), focusing on installations and performances. Their debut work will be the opening exhibition for Copenhagen´s new art space for sound and light art, Urum, in an old water tower.
Sub-Photic Scenario is available on Erototox Decodings. [Bandcamp]
