Hey, you remember the Icelandic independent imprint called INNI Music, yes? It opened up with Atli Örvarsson‘s You Are Here back in 2020, and then there was Rose Riebl‘s Do Not Move Stones in 2021, followed up with Jónsi, Sin Fang, Alex Somers, Kjartan Holm‘s Sounds of Fischer Vol. 1 a year after, all of which have consistently made to my Best of the Year lists, in every single year. Right. So, yes, this is the same Holm from that Jónsi (of Sigur Rós fame) collaboration, this time with a solo release. Hailing from Reykjavik, Kjartan Holm is a musician and a film composer with half a dozen scores under his belt. This album, titled HORIZON, was originally written for a same-named documentary about the late Icelandic painter Georg Guðni, “whose innovative interpretations of forms and ideas paved the way for a renaissance in Icelandic landscape painting.” The music, as conveyed in a piece I am premiering for you today, is capturing the vast and sprawling atmospheres, blending abstract textures with ethereal melodies in pastel haze, shifting tones, and wide brushstrokes. You don’t even need to look up the paintings to see the resemblance (but I recommend that you do). Lovely tonalities to get lost in on this one, and I recommend that you pick up the album, in just a few days…
Six years I ago I was on a 12 hour flight from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. The whole score was written on that journey with my clumsy fingers playing the laptop keyboard and mixed with my old DJ headphones. It’s not difficult to get inspired when Georg Guðni’s paintings are this hauntingly beautiful.
— Kjartan Holm
Once again, the full album is out on October 13th, 2023, available via the INNI Bandcamp. This single is officially out on October 6, 2023, on all your favourite streaming platforms. But I am glad that you were able to join me for it today…
