Neural - Eskifjörður
Neural, Aurelio Cianciotta, 2015

Eskifjörður comes to us from the label Kaon, a non-profit organisation dedicated to experimental music, both electronic and concrete. The compelling Nordic title Eskifjörður is the name of an Icelandic town nestled in the Eastern fjords. For a project with such a strong site-specific appeal, the approach taken appears to be somewhat narrative. The introductory notes of the project chart a fairly linear development “first is the awakening of the earth, living, breathing”, “men are discreet” and “the sea is nourishing, bountiful and generous”. The geographical area that forms the basis for the project is a very unique place, featuring inhospitable and uninhabited but nonetheless fascinating landscapes. Some would say the Icelandic setting is the ideal foil for a collection of field recordings, given the complete absence of manufactured noise. Here we find the sea, meteorological events of various types and human activities. This is treated with subtle electronic processes in a sonic journey that is clearly more than an elegy to some private idyll. Of course, it is not the first time that such “glacial” landscapes have been the subject of investigations of this type; the acoustic qualities of glaciers and vast expanses of water have long fascinated ambient artists to the point of almost producing its own subgenre. In Eskifjörður the primordial force of nature is augmented by thoughtful manipulations, producing an aesthetic effect of very rare beauty.