RedazioneComposer Ian Nyquist releases first single ‘IX’ from new album ‘BLACK EARTH CAIRN’.
Ian Nyquist is a Dublin based composer and producer whose work is distinctly soundtrack- driven with roots firmly set in the world of soundtrack styled atmospherics. He explores classical composition with contemporary production, all within a sound which is uniquely his own.
Black Earth Cairn came from cathartic expeditions through the Wicklow Mountains near Ian’s home in Dublin. Driving through remote areas of the landscape and walking through Wicklow’s windswept heaths developed into a pilgrimage in tandem with the production of the album that largely informed the project.
“The landscape is barren and empty, but standing on the moors at night surrounded by towering rock faces illuminated in moonlight, or sometimes shrouded entirely in cloud and gales that seemingly come up from the ground, it is relentlessly active. You are completely at the mercy of the land.” Ian says. The sense of exposure to the elements is ever-present in Black Earth Cairn’s music. Starting from a wild, untethered mark and settling into a more refined, mantric lull in the second half, the definitive flow of Black Earth Cairn is informed by the metal, neo-classical, and folk music Ian listened to during the album’s production.
Every specific moment on the album has been decisively recorded from sessions of experimentation with the extremes and limitations of a bass guitar. Ian comments that: “A bass guitar has this visceral, brutal, metallic quality which you don’t really get from other bowed instruments. You can hear the heaving, growling, laboured, breaths as each note is forced out of an instrument being unconventionally played; owing, tuning while playing, or detuning the strings until they can’t even carry a note and have more of a percussive rattle. The instrument takes on a whole new sound that is as alien as it is familiar”.
This otherworldly aesthetic is also featured in Saoirse Sexton’s film and infrared images which document the form and architecture of Wicklow’s barren expanse. Written verse co-penned by Aislinn Shanahan Daly accompanies the project in addition as it cryptically and instinctively responds to the musical themes of the album. The written verse and photography for Black Earth Cairn are presented as an E-Book longside the release. A limited run of hardback books for the artwork of Black Earth Cairn will be available later this year.
Black Earth Cairn is available now to stream on Spotify and on Bandcamp. A3 prints and memory sticks containing both the music and artwork for this release are also available in limited edition for order/pre-order from Bandcamp.
