The single paradox
In about a month the new Afenginn album Klingra will be released, on October 11th to be precise. It’s our seventh album and I have to say that I’m probably more excited than ever before. Musically I’ve gone further into the direction of something that could be described as “post-classical” or “indie-classical” music. Much like some of the previous albums, it’s an album that is built up – not out of tunes or songs – but as a musical journey of a kind, where long arches are built up and torn down of over the course of the whole album. The albums has 8 titles, but basically consists of two parts: Part A and Part B (or side A and B on the vinyl, more about the vinyl in another post). The different pieces are connected musically through reoccurring themes, rhythmic and harmonic patterns, as well as sharing the basic blueprint or DNA of this particular album.
The intention behind this is to create music that stays in a particular mode for a long time, although constantly evolving and developing. Hopefully leading to a feeling of constantly being driven on an obscured path. Thus the idea is that the album should be listen to in one go as a whole, almost like a movie, and not only the separate scenes. Nevertheless we’re releasing singles from Klingra, which feels a bit like a paradox, but it has turned out that the tracks get a life of their own, outside the context of the album. Like small snapshots or scenes of a bigger whole.
First out was Himnakropparnir (Celestial Bodies), which is the last piece on the A side of the vinyl. It’s the crest on a wave that’s been building over the last two pieces so it begins already surging with interlocked patterns that speak of a kind of urgency with the chanting of the lines “vit bresta til jarðar, vit støkka til himmals, til jarðar vit bresta, til himmals vit støkka” – “we crash to the ground, we spring to the sky, to ground we crash, to sky we spring”.
Second single was Ivin (The Doubt), which opens the B-side of the vinyl. It’s a rhythmically insisting piece with both a mathematical design and raw emotional expression in the music. The track performed very well on the streaming platforms, and we saw a remarkable 1600% increase in streams over a month after it was released.
And now the third single is out. It’s called Skapanin (The Creation) and is also from the B-side. Also with a sound palette of two pianos, a string quartet, pedal steel guitar, synth bass and two drummers the track starts in an ambient atmosphere with small sparkling particles of dust and hope floating in the air. These are mixed with a distant Morricone-like whistling from Teitur, which gradually brings out a simple melody in the piano. The musical layers are solidified by the determined drumming and through a grounding maelstrom builds up to a climactic release.
Although they are all parts of a bigger context, they still can be heard as isolated scenes. At least that’s what I hope. They are all slightly different from the album versions and edited in a way that makes them more suitable for isolated listening. I hope that you will enjoy them and that they get you excited for the hearing the whole album when that hits the streets on October 11th.
Pre-order the album HERE