“Unsettled Beings” | TRS – 35
TRS035 is the newest full length release from Swedish musician, Mikael Lind.
The title of Mikael Lind’s latest album, Unsettled Beings, is a reference to his restless self. Mikael is Swedish, but has lived and worked in Iceland since 2006. The interesting thing about his new release, is that all the people involved in realizing the music are also foreigners living in Iceland. Paul Evans from Greenhouse Studios played the violin and also mixed the album. Ryan Karazija, who is doing very well in Iceland with his band Low Roar, lent his vocals to four of the tracks. Alex Somers from Riceboy Sleeps, producer of several important new musical acts in Iceland, mastered the album.
The basic idea of the album is a core of several different pianos accompanied by a lush pattern of violins. The pianos are of varying character, and their melodies often intertwine in a poly-rhythmic fashion, giving the listener the option of letting different melodies compete for attention. Ryan’s vocals add warmth to the songs, ornamented with Paul’s violins – sometimes in a call-response aesthetics.
This album will be released in two versions. The first as usual over the top limited version comes in the form of a sewn, 12 page book of photographs bound in an antique book cover. Like Iceland itself, with it’s molten core, most of these pages are hand burnt, and overlaid with “unsettled beings” characters drawn by the well known Icelandic illustrator, Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir, who also recently did all the interior drawings for the new Sigur Ros release. One page in fingerprinted with ash from the volcano, Hekla. Also in each deluxe package is an original collaborative artwork between Colin and Sigga, an original polaroid print of Mikael taken in Iceland, a translucent envelope with dried Icelandic leaves and flowers, a hand printed insert, antique Icelandic stamps, and a small, strung hourglass vial full of Icelandic Poppy seeds.
This is also available in a standard digipak edition of 200 copies.
