I’ve always been a huge sucker for the sound of a bowed cello. I think it has something to do with a personality that while appreciative of joy and absurdity, always leans a bit towards the melancholy side of things.

Sure, it’s possible to make a cello sound playful, but it’s at it’s best when it’s drawing out deep moans of mournful, textural sound that can’t quite be matched by any other instrument out there. It wavers, it quivers, it’s the aural equivalent of the small hairs on the back of your neck being stood on end and then gently touched by a breeze.

Without Sinking is the second full-length release (and her first for the Touch label) from Hildur Gudnadottir (who is also a member of the Icelandic folk outfit Storsveit Nix Noltes) and it finds her exploring all the subtle variations that a cello can create, while teaming up with Jóhann Jóhannsson, Skuli Sverrisson and others. It’s probably best-suited for fall or winter, or flying in a plane somewhere suspended above clouds that obscure the rest of the world below. Like clouds, it’s wispy at times with a hint of light peeking through, and at other times it swirls with a dark foreboding.

Of course, with song titles like “Overcast,” “Elevation,” and “Ascent,” it’s hard not to draw the same sort of visual pictures, but they really are quite fitting. Although it’s the shortest piece on the entire release, “Erupting Light” is a perfect example of the more intense side of Gudnadottir as shrill cello chords pierce the darkness while more aggressive bowing gives a more melodic foundation and a real sense of movement.

“Erupting Light” – Hildur Gudnadottir

“Aether,” on the other hand, peels back the layers and mingles some beautiful stark autoharp with clarinet and finally the plaintive strains of cello. It rests somewhere between folk and classical, and like the rest of her release finds her working between worlds a bit, touching on everything from ambient to minimalism to modern chamber music with minor glints of electronic processing.

“Aether” – Hildur Gudnadottir

Released on Touch Records (Gudnadottir has also collaborated with BJ Nilsen), Without Sinking inhabits the same sort of world as the work by Nils Økland (on the Rune Grammofon label) and the one-off greats of Kopernik (on the Eastern Developments label). It’s a beautiful little album, and I imagine it will keep coming back to me throughout the year.

(buy Without Sinking at amazon.com)

1. Headphone Commute Says:
   April 28th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

   Undoubtedly going to be my favorite of 2009