This album, released in March 2015, is an ambient music evocation of certain striking landscapes in the northern regions of Iceland near the town of Akureyri, which we visited in the fall of 2014. We were, as most visitors are, very moved by the power of these volcanic landscapes and coastlines and decided to capture them in music.
TRACKLIST (click to listen)
1. Hverir Geothermal Area
(info about the place) (video)
2. View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður, 1
(info about the place)
3. Mývatn viewed from Hverfell caldera, October
(info about the place and Hverfell)
4. View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður, 2
Allister Thompson: guitar, synths, mellotron sounds, voice, other sounds
Teri-Lynn Janveau: piano, mellotron sounds, voice
Samantha Thompson: concert harp, tracks 2 and 4
Field recordings:
on Hverir Geothermal Area by Internet Archive user prae (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)
on View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður by Internet Archive user jochumsen (public domain mark 1)
Thanks to Sigrún Stella (soundcloud.com/sigrun-stella) for the translation of the album title
Cover photo by Allister Thompson
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE OR NAME YOUR PRICE AT BANDCAMP
REVIEW:
Gray Owl Point
"How do you pay tribute to a landscape as magical and captivating as Iceland? You capture an essence, record a form of what you see, and trace your inspiration back to its source ... The zen found in the Landslag Norður Íslands (The Landscape of North Iceland) is powerful ... give The Gateless Gate your attention: they deserve it."
Sonic Immersion
"...emotive, gentle unfolding, overtly atmospheric and dreamy sound painting featuring gliding synth waves, mellotron patches, neo-classical orchestrations and ethereal vocals along assorted treated sounds.
The introspective, desolate nature and vast scenery encountered in this region simply resonates in each of the four textural, tracks along embedded currents of plain beauty. As such "Landslag Norður Íslands" makes a pleasant contemplative listening experience to make your imagination wander elsewhere and relax your mind."
Space Rock Mountain
"In all their output they make wonderful use of ambient sounds, harmonic keys and ethereal effects to create a vast soundscape out of the few elements present, much like the landscapes referenced. The results have a remarkably psychedelic quality, as all great ambient music does, a sort of removal of space and time. It isn't bleak nor lifeless, even the sounds of little waves and fate chirping of birds heard in the compositions remind one of how existence is endlessly altering even in the coolest of places or the most ambient of songs."
TRACKLIST (click to listen)
1. Hverir Geothermal Area
(info about the place) (video)
2. View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður, 1
(info about the place)
3. Mývatn viewed from Hverfell caldera, October
(info about the place and Hverfell)
4. View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður, 2
Allister Thompson: guitar, synths, mellotron sounds, voice, other sounds
Teri-Lynn Janveau: piano, mellotron sounds, voice
Samantha Thompson: concert harp, tracks 2 and 4
Field recordings:
on Hverir Geothermal Area by Internet Archive user prae (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)
on View of the Greenland Sea north of Siglufjörður by Internet Archive user jochumsen (public domain mark 1)
Thanks to Sigrún Stella (soundcloud.com/sigrun-stella) for the translation of the album title
Cover photo by Allister Thompson
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE OR NAME YOUR PRICE AT BANDCAMP
REVIEW:
Gray Owl Point
"How do you pay tribute to a landscape as magical and captivating as Iceland? You capture an essence, record a form of what you see, and trace your inspiration back to its source ... The zen found in the Landslag Norður Íslands (The Landscape of North Iceland) is powerful ... give The Gateless Gate your attention: they deserve it."
Sonic Immersion
"...emotive, gentle unfolding, overtly atmospheric and dreamy sound painting featuring gliding synth waves, mellotron patches, neo-classical orchestrations and ethereal vocals along assorted treated sounds.
The introspective, desolate nature and vast scenery encountered in this region simply resonates in each of the four textural, tracks along embedded currents of plain beauty. As such "Landslag Norður Íslands" makes a pleasant contemplative listening experience to make your imagination wander elsewhere and relax your mind."
Space Rock Mountain
"In all their output they make wonderful use of ambient sounds, harmonic keys and ethereal effects to create a vast soundscape out of the few elements present, much like the landscapes referenced. The results have a remarkably psychedelic quality, as all great ambient music does, a sort of removal of space and time. It isn't bleak nor lifeless, even the sounds of little waves and fate chirping of birds heard in the compositions remind one of how existence is endlessly altering even in the coolest of places or the most ambient of songs."