Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2019, Qupperneq 34

Music
Music, Medicine
And Miracles
Kira Kira’s sonic meditation
Words & Photo: Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir
Album
Hear ‘UNA’ at
kirakira.bandcamp.com
Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, bet-
ter known as Kira Kira, is a visual
artist, composer and producer who
creates sound sculptures with a fo-
cus on experimentation, new tech-
nologies and group improvisation.
Collaborative practise has been
a key aspect in Kira’s development
throughout the years, and each
new cooperation seems to bring
out something new in her work.
“I like to create soundscapes
and invite other musicians to
come and improvise with me in
that world of sounds.” she says. “I
create the sounds from scratch, or
they come from live audio record-
ings. It’s a bit like creating your
own meal from the herbs in your
garden—you’ve sown the seeds,
and you know their origin, and
there is a satisfaction that comes
with that.”
A surprise album
The latest fruit of this practise is
‘UNA.’ The album came together
quickly, arriving just a year af-
ter her 2018 release ‘Alchemy and
Friends.’ “This album is a total
surprise,” she says. “My other al-
bums took five years to create, be-
cause I’m meticulous; I like to have
all the details perfectly aligned.”
It began when Kira was ap-
proached by Andrew Hargreaves
of The Tape Loop Orchestra to
make an album
on his Letra Rec
label, as part of a
series celebrating
long-form music.
T he Tape Loop
Orchestra treated
some of her choral
samples, running
them through tape machines. The
resulting album is a deeply peace-
ful listen. “It’s a bit of a sanctuary,”
says Kira. “I’d like people to lie on
the floor with closed eyes and just
let it wash over them.”
Yoga soundscapes
Kira has been meditating for sev-
en years and has long thought of
making music that supports med-
itation practice. In fact, the songs
on ‘UNA’ are based on mantras she
wrote with her collaborators. One
such mantra is “A miracle is a shift
in perception from fear to love.”
“When I saw these lines for the
first time, it was like everything
around me just stopped,” says
Kira. “I found myself reading them
over and over again, and they felt
like medicine. It was like finally
stumbling onto something that
helps you, in a way that something
actually physically moves in your
thought system, and your emo-
tional structure. It had an irre-
versible impact.”
Dream therapy
Kira has several other projects on
the go, including recording music
for the third series of ‘Dream Corp
LLC’ by Daniel Stessen—a surreal
hybrid sci-fi animation that takes
place in a dream therapy laborato-
ry—and working with Orri Jóns-
son and Davíð Hörgdal Stefánsson
on a documentary about the late
composer Jóhann
Jóhannsson.
Yet another pro-
ject is ‘Motions
L i ke T hese’—a
c o l l a b o r a t i o n
w it h L A-ba sed
musician Eskmo,
due for release
next month. “It has a very differ-
ent energy from ‘UNA,’” says Kira.
“There’s a lot of speed and power,
joy, colours, and percussion. We
wanted it to be the best of Eskmo
and the best of Kira, like a third
animal. The danger in collabora-
tions where two producers meet
fifty-fifty is that there’s too much
compromise. We were mindful of
that trap and sailed right over it
to create something that contains
the best of both worlds.”
Despite her busyness, Kira
is keen to stay present and
light-hearted in her work. “Play-
fulness is everything,” she finish-
es. “That’s something that I make a
point of nurturing in everything I
do—because life is serious enough
as it is.”
“A miracle is a
shift in percep-
tion from fear to
love.”
34The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09— 2019
The chilled out life of Kira Kira
gpv.is/music
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