Eydís Evensen – Bylur (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Almost an entire lifetime packed into just 44 minutes… This début album from Eydís Evensen draws on the 27 years the Icelandic composer and pianist has spent on earth. The Greenhouse studios in Reykjavik, where this album was recorded, are run by Valgeir Sigurðsson, who has worked with Björk, Nico Muhly, CocoRosie and Ben Frost among others. Bylur is a beautiful oddity made up of 13 pieces for piano, strings and brass, some of which were composed when Evensen was just a child. This musical self-portrait shines a light on the neoclassical scene, which is already filled with many artists who defy classification, such as Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Jean-Michel Blais and others.

Bylur takes its name from a word that Icelanders use to describe snowstorms: violent, but also beautiful. The many different emotions that run through this introspective album are held together by a captivating storytelling talent. This album bears witness to the impact that these extreme natural conditions had on Eydís Evensen’s childhood, but it also tells of the personal turmoil she had to endure when she decided to leave Iceland for London and New York. The inner tumults that she has faced, both big and small, are given an unsentimental rendering in her piano music. Whether a sequence is languid and romantic or tense and dark, every melody hypnotises, and every bar grabs and compels the listener. It is hard to resist so much untrammelled beauty, especially as Bylur often reaches beyond neoclassical or postclassical forms. On Circulation, for example, the violin part offers a nod in the direction of Michael Nyman’s art. And on Midnight Moon, the sole vocal track on the album, Evensen invites in her compatriot, the singer Guðrún Ýr Eyfjörð alias GDRN. These interludes enrich an enchanting emotional journey. – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:
01. Eydís Evensen – Deep Under (04:48)
02. Eydís Evensen – Dagdraumur (03:07)
03. Eydís Evensen – The Northern Sky (03:31)
04. Eydís Evensen – Wandering I (04:38)
05. Eydís Evensen – Vetur Genginn í Garð (03:09)
06. Eydís Evensen – Fyrir Mikael (02:15)
07. Eydís Evensen – Wandering II (02:39)
08. Sólveig Vaka Eyþórsdóttir – Circulation (02:17)
09. Eydís Evensen – Innsti Kjarni og Tilbrigði (03:47)
10. Eydís Evensen – Næturdögg (02:46)
11. Eydís Evensen – Midnight Moon (04:10)
12. Eydís Evensen – Brotin (03:15)
13. Eydís Evensen – Bylur (04:11)

Download:

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