Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Qupperneq 66

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As a core member of the Bedroom
Community label, Daníel Bjarna-
son has been composing music that
stretches and warps the concepts
and expectations towards what is
considered “classical music.” His
2010 debut album, ‘Processions,’
is a work that is at once both vis-
ceral and intimate, held together
with highly complex structures
of breathtaking virtuosity. He has
also worked closely with label mate
Ben Frost, on 2011’s ‘Sólaris,’ (In-
spired by the 1972 sci-fi film of the
same name) and on the soundtrack
to the Icelandic film ‘Djúpi!.' He
has also composed works such as
‘The Isle Is Full Of Noises,’ influ-
enced by Shakespearé s ‘Tempest.’
This September saw the release of
Daníel’s second solo album, ‘Over Light
Earth.’ Containing three segments based
on early works and influenced by the New
York school of painters, the album refines
the music and techniques seen in ‘Pro-
cessions’ with recording and production
techniques that seek to shape orchestral
music into new, innovative forms.
We met with Daníel to discuss his
work and creative process, as well as his
preparations for this year’s Airwaves festi-
val.
On ‘Over Light Earth,’ the self-
titled first section was apparently
inspired by the New York School
of painters, in particular Rothko’s
No. 9 (Dark Over Light Earth), and
Jackson Pollock’s Canvas No. 1
1949. What was it about these two
paintings that inspired you?
Well it happened that I was in LA on an-
other project, just as I was starting work
on this piece, but was only at the time
thinking about what I should do. But
right across the street from Disney Hall,
where the piece was going to premiered,
is MOCA [The Museum Of Contempo-
rary Art], and my hotel was also right next
to that. And when I was in the frame of
mind where I was thinking about the piec-
es, I was spending a lot of time in there.
The two artworks themselves are
very different aren’t they? The
Rothko piece is a classic of abstract
impressionism, while the Pollock
piece is very dense and furious.
Well, I had seen both those paintings
before, but when I saw those two at that
moment and the way they were presented,
I was more receptive to them, especially
the Pollock painting. But I will say that I
wasn’t in the museum looking for some-
thing specifically to make music to, it was
more a case of catching something at the
right time.
I then came back to Reykjavík, and
kept thinking about those paintings. I
found myself looking at other works from
that period and eventually become ex-
tremely connected to them.
Methods
‘Over Light Earth’ is markedly dif-
ferent from other classical record-
ings in that it was recorded with
the use of close mic-ing and studio
multitracking. Why did you choose
this method, as opposed to the tra-
ditional way of recording classical
music?
We started this method of recording on
“Bow To String,” [from ‘Processions’] with
a single cello, and then layering stuff on
top of the original sound. This made it
possible to do things that you can’t with
traditional recordings. You can really
delve into certain sounds, in that you can
isolate, amplify, and filter them, etc. It’s
essentially a different approach for clas-
sical music, one that’s considered normal
in almost every other genre in music; that
the album is the album, and the live per-
formance is a separate thing. They don’t
have to be the same. Most classical music
that’s recorded is a representation of a live
experience, even though, ironically, most
live performances for recording are edited
quite a lot.
Listening to ‘Over Light Earth’ you
can hear a lot of the instruments
close up. The scratching of the
string instruments, to the hammer
of the piano keys hitting the notes.
Were you trying to get a more natu-
ral feel into the music, to make it
feel more “alive”?
Yeah, in a way. I was trying to get more
into the actual sounds that each instru-
ment can make and be able to play with
effects such as studio panning, so you
can focus in and out of certain groups of
instruments. Someone described it to me
like being a fly that could fly around the
different instruments and being able to
hear different sounds at different times.
Subtlety
The third passage of the album,
“Solitudes,” is one of your one of
your earliest composed pieces.
Why, for this, album did you de-
cide to return to this piece? I un-
derstand that Ben and Valgeir Sig-
ur!sson reworked the music a bit.
Funnily it was the first thing of mine
that I recorded with Valgeir, around four
or five years ago. We were originally going
to put it out as the first album, but then I
wrote ‘Processions’ and we decided to go
with that instead, as it would be too much
having two piano concertos on the album.
But as we were putting ‘Over Light
Earth’ together, we were looking for a
third piece, and we went back to these
recordings and started working on them
a bit more. And these pieces themselves
started to make sense when we treated
them the same way as the other pieces
in the album. Then the idea came that
we would go at it with a slightly different
approach, in using more electronic instru-
mentation.
The electronic aspect is VERY sub-
tle in a way. I can at times just hear
Ben’s guitar drift in and out of cer-
tain passages.
Oh yeah, it’s very subtle and people will
have to listen very hard to hear it. The stuff
that Valgeir and Ben do on this piece is
quite specific.
Deep Approach
In terms of collaboration, you’ve
collaborated a lot with Ben
Frost, working together on the
soundtrack to Baltasar Kormákur’s
film ‘Djúpi!’ and, more significant-
ly, the piece inspired by the 1972
film ‘Sólaris.’ How did that project
start?
It was a commission from the Unsound
Festival in Poland. Mat (Schulz, the festi-
val organiser), discussed aspects of it with
Ben, and they came up with the initial
idea together, but then the ideas around it
started to change and then I got involved.
Through various morphing processes, it
eventually took shape.
What was your knowledge of
‘Sólaris’ beforehand? Were you a
fan of the film?
I actually hadn’t seen it! When the project
approached, I watched it through once,
and when Ben and I met up, we watched
the film through twice, two days in a row.
While we were watching it, we started
our improv sessions, where all the music
for the piece basically came from. After
those sessions, we let the material lie for
a long time, and then we came back to it
and started editing away what was good
and what was bad. At that point we had no
idea what pieces would fit to what scenes
of the movie. We decided early on that
we weren’t going to approach it linearly,
like you would normally do with a movie
soundtrack.
So it was similar to ‘Over Light
Earth,’ in that you were asking
what does the movie represent and
can we represent those themes in a
musical form?
Yeah, for us the movie was a starting
point, and was more of a conversation be-
tween the two works. We never actually
watched the movie again after we finished
those improv sessions.
Really? I and many other people
would assume that you spent a lot
of time delving into the movie and
its themes.
Well, while we were making the music,
we both approached the movie very deep-
ly, if only for a short, focused session of
time. Having said that, if we didn’t have
the movie with us during those sessions,
the music probably would have been com-
pletely different in terms of pacing and
atmosphere.

So how are you approaching Air-
waves this year? Will it be any
different to your regular perfor-
mances?

I haven’t quite worked out what I’m go-
ing to play yet. The set will contain some
of the music from the album, but not all
of it though as it will be way to complex.
You’d need 50 people, and you would also
need to prepare the piano and it's hard
in a festival like this to be able to do that
sort of thing. So it will be myself and a
small group, around seven or so people.
For this set, I’ve been making these ar-
rangements, to cut the number of people
needed down, and I find that quite inter-
esting to make the music work in a differ-
ent situation.
SATURDAY ISSUE 16 — 2013GRAPEVINE AIRWAVES
Daníel Bjarnason seeks to introduce new ways
of approaching and listening to classical music.
—Words by Bob Clueness
Who: Daníel Bjarnason
Where: Gamla Bíó
When: Saturday, November 2 at 23:00.
I understand that Músiktilraunir
marked the first time that you
played a show. Has your music
changed since you’ve played
more shows?
Well of course our music has
changed or evolved rather, and
hopefully for the better.
How do you make music? Who
writes the lyrics?
Andri writes the lyrics. There is no
one way that we compose though.
When can we expect a new al-
bum? Have you started working
on it? Will it be very different
than ‘Tensions’?
Yes we are working on a full album.
If you could change one thing
about the Icelandic music scene,
what would it be?
We would stop all of the best venues
for concerts from closing down!
What’s the best saxophone solo
of all time?
Paul Desmond’s “Take Five.”
Axel Sigur!arson