Artists
Ingi Bjarni Skúlason piano
Hilmar Jensson guitar
Anders Jormin bass
Magnús Trygvason Eliassen drums
CD info
Catalogue No: LOS 299-2
EAN: 7090025832994
1 Hope 7:12
2 Uplift 4:25
3 Chant 6:37
4 Eftir allt 4:57
5 Hægur dans 4:38
6 April Dreams 6:24
7 Continuation 6:15
8 Desember 6:01
9 Escaped 6:04
Total time 52:33
Ingi Bjarni Skúlason piano
Hilmar Jensson guitar
Anders Jormin bass
Magnús Trygvason Eliassen drums
All compositions by Ingi Bjarni Skúlason
Digisleeve in the link below:
Download Press Release (PDF)
Kjøp plater direkte fra Losen Records. Kr 200,- per CD inkl. porto. Vipps til 99 00 61 90 og mail navn og adresse til odd@losenrecords.no
Recorded September 2023 by Johannes Lundberg at Studio Epidemin, Gothenburg, Sweden
Mixed in December 2023 by Johannes Lundberg at Studio Epidemin
Mastered March 2024 by Ívar Ragnarsson, Reykjavík
Produced by Ingi Bjarni Skúlason
Executive producer Odd Gjelsnes
Cover photo by Kjersti Holst
Band photo Hans Vera
Design by Max Franosch
As I sat down to write these liner notes, I looked at the song list of the album. I noticed that seven out of
the nine pieces were written in 2021, the year my mother passed away. After some reflection, I realized
that these pieces are, in one way or another, connected to the process of grieving my mother. This was
not something I intentionally planned when selecting compositions for this project, or even when I was
composing the pieces. I was just focused on the music, not necessarily on how it came about. So this
realization is a bit special to me. Recently, I have indeed noticed that my subconscious plays a big role in
my life. In my music making I let my intuition lead the way.
My mother was quite poetic and often published parts of her unreleased poems on social media. In one of
her poems, she wrote (translated from Icelandic to English): “Is life always a gentle waltz, with a clear path
and no troubles ahead? The winter of life may indeed be long and hard. But my dear friend, you can do
better. With hope in your heart, you are capable of everything.” It is my wish to express a feeling of hope
with this music – hope for peace, hope for closure, and hope for happiness. So Hope is the most appropriate
title for the album.
The album starts with the spacious title track, Hope, with a beautiful bass intro by Anders Jormin, where
he hints at the bass melody of the song. Uplift is also a song connected to the theme of hope, an uplifting
tune that changes between the meters of 11/8 and 6/4 with a strong, yet subtle, melody inspired by folk
music. The third piece, the highly lyrical Chant, starts with an improvised piano intro. Then the singable
melody starts. This is truly a piece that could be sung, even without lyrics. Singing has a healing power,
so perhaps this is a chant for healing.
Eftir allt was written during an artist’s residency at the historic Hólar Cathedral in Iceland in the summer of
2021. The title translates to “after everything”. This is the only song I have written inside a church, which
seems fitting for this album since my mother was very religious. The slow dance, Hægur dans, was written
with a specific drum beat in mind for Magnús Trygvason Eliassen to explore. But later, the beat goes astray,
and collective improvisations take over. Once, I improvised a piano piece daily for a whole month and
shared them on YouTube. April Dreams is a dreamy blues from one of these improvisations. It has a peculiar
melody based on intervals. The song features great soloing by both Hilmar Jensson and Anders Jormin.
Life continues even though there are bumps along the way. Continuation explores sweet folk music
melodies but spices them up with expressive free improvisation. Desember is a song written in December,
but it is definitely not a Christmas song! Desember symbolizes the end of the year and is about accepting
how things are. To leave things on a slightly more energetic note, the album ends with Escaped. I chose
that name because one morning I felt an overwhelming urge to create, as if the music needed to escape
from within me.
Ingi Bjarni Skúlason, September 2024
