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Bára Gísladóttir & Skúli Sverrisson: »Caeli«

Bára Gísladóttir og Skúli Sverrisson: »Caeli«. © Sono Luminus

Sune Anderberg. © Alexander Banck-Petersen

En verden af iskold sol og helvedsblomster toner frem i Gísladóttirs musik; bredt hvislende droner sat over for kontrabassens på samme tid meditative og foruroligende botanisering. Det er storladent, men ukunstlet, en bombastisk ensartethed i en to timer lang raptus. »Solen størkner blodig, imedens den brænder,« som Baudelaire skrev.

Kun rent undtagelsesvis viger Gísladóttir og Sverrisson bort fra hovedsporet på Caeli, for eksempel med de klagende mågeskrig og konturerne af et strygerarrangement på »Caeli movendi sunt et terra«. For sproget er fundet, deres opgave er blot at lade det flyde. Hyl mod månen!

Jeg kan ikke lade være et krydslæse Gísladóttir – månens og den evige vinters besynger – med den soloptagede og lige så hyperproduktive digter Cecilie Lind: »Jeg er solen, der stod op om natten,« skriver hun i Mit barn, langdigtet om fødslen af den sorte sols baby og den personlige undergang spejlet i galaksens, »mor / mord / dødssol«.

Umuligt er det at fjerne blikket fra himmellegemer i kollaps, hvad end det er måne eller sol (ét fedt bag apokalyptiske briller). Og det er vel sådan, jeg lytter til Caeli og Gísladóttirs improvisatoriske partiturcirkler, som en myg fanget af det lys, der vil udslette den. Som en myg, der ser en komponist finde sit sprog og bade sig i den overflod af lyd, det taler.

news

04.10

Björk takes over Polish marketplace today for secret festival finale

It was officially confirmed only recently that Icelandic avant-garde star Björk is visiting Bielsko-Biała today. After keeping it under wraps until the last moment, the organizers of the Wędrujący Festiwal (Wandering Festival) have revealed that Björk is the artist closing out the festival's grand finale.

playlist

03.10

My name is Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek – would you like to see my playlist?

»Recently, I discovered that when a couple of thousand people clap their thick gloves in minus 30 degrees, it sounds like the softest techno – a freezing space where the cold air turns into a wave of warmth, and we, in a moment of collective devotion, become one with the rhythm, one with the invisible bond that connects us in the warmth of silence. Music is not just sounds, but a vain attempt to capture the infinite, which has always been and always will be.«

Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek has been the editor-in-chief of Seismograf since 2021. He is also a music critic and cultural journalist at Kristeligt Dagblad and Århus Stiftstidende/Avisen Danmark and has over the years written to publications such as Kunsten.nu, Glissando (Poland), Neural (Italy), Raw Vision (UK), Nutida Musik (Sweden), Kunstkritikk (DK/Sweden), Iscene.dk, B.T., and Jazz Special. He is the author (together with Lars Muhl) of the book HVA' SAA! En guidet rutsjebanetur gennem Aarhus – før, nu og i fremtiden (2024) and has also contributed to the anthology on music criticism Man skal høre meget (ed. Thomas Michelsen and Claus Røllum-Larsen, 2024). He is a founder and partner in the Polish-Danish cultural organization Kultur(a), and wherever there is a piano, he will be there, eager to coax a melody from it.

playlist

02.10

My name is Aria Leth Schütze – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is an opportunity for transformation.«

Aria Leth Schütze is based in Copenhagen and is the creative force behind the music projects Alto Aria and Samler På Dig. They are a co-founder of the record label Rhizome and a co-editor of the music magazine Passive/Aggressive. Their practice brings together electronic and acoustic music in an exploration of transformation.

playlist

02.10

My name is Mikkel Krause Frantzen – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is the art form that – if measured in hours and minutes – occupies by far the greatest part of my life. I cannot sing, nor can I play an instrument, but I can listen – as a happy amateur – while cycling, on the dance floor, and, above all, at the office. I almost always work – that is, write – to music.«

Mikkel Krause Frantzen (b. 1983) is an associate professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, a literary critic for Politiken, and the author of several books in English and Danish, such as En fremtid uden Fremtid (2018), Klodens Fald (2021), and Slutspil (2024).

playlist

28.09

Mit navn er David Dyrholm – vil du se min playliste?

»Music is what gets my gears turning. It sets both my body and mind in motion – and on a good day, even gets them up to speed. My listening habits are entirely shaped by my mood... and by the musical tastes of my two children, which shift every eight minutes... so the home stereo gets exposed to a bit of everything. In a way, that’s exactly how it should be. Room for everything and everyone.«

David Dyrholm (b. 1990) is a food and music critic for Politiken, focusing on jazz – ranging from the traditional to the modern—and avant-garde music. Alongside this, he has worked for the Modern Jazz Days festival, served on the jury for the DMA Jazz awards, and previously released a number of records with the hip-hop collective DoktorDoktor.