Product Description

This is Hildur Ingveldardottir Gudnadottir's second solo album and her first for Touch. ['Mount A' was released on the Icelandic label '12 Tonar' in 2006.] Hildur flew so much during 2007 and 2008 that she spent alot of time staring at clouds through the airplane window, considering their appearance and formation... She says: "My aim with this record was to create a feeling of breath with a bow on string. I wanted to create a sky and cloud-like feeling in the compositions. I wanted to have open space for single notes and let them breath, like single clouds in a clear sky. As a contrast I also wanted create denser and heavier compositions which were more thundercloud like. I like the way clouds form, how many tiny droplets can form such dense forms and then slowly evaporate into thin string-like ones." 'Mount A' was an intensely solo work, composed and recorded in winter darkness, a solitary, rural affair. 'Without Sinking' was recorded in Berlin, mostly during the summer of 2008; also Hildur has collaborated with Icelandic musicians Johann Johannsson [two of his albums were released on Touch, 'Englaborn' in 2002 and 'Virthulega Forsetar' in 2004], and bassist Skuli Sverrisson. Her father, Guoni Franzson, also guests playing clarinet on two tracks here. This collaborative process is reflected in a much more open sound; there is more space and you can hear the air. Mixed by Valgeir Sigurosson and Hildur at Greenhouse Studios Iceland, and mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye, 'Without Sinking' is a luxurious, riveting and involving piece of work.