New album: Birting

Details on availability from Creative Space:

Cyclic Defrost

When I bring to mind the music of Iceland, I can’t help but think of epic pop or twee music-box styled experiments. It’s a pleasant surprise then, that Gisli Thor Gudmundsson, aka Traject, draws inspiration not from the current crop of Icelandic superstars, but seemingly from the subarctic landscape itself.
Penrose opens the album, with deep breathy drones creaking and groaning under the weight of meticulously programmed deconstructed rhythms. There’s something sinister lurking in the tundra, and Gudmundsson has captured it’s essence here. Bjart Er Yfir follows with more of the drones and atmospherics that tie the album together. This time though, they’re accompanied by deep tribal drumming and looped distant vocal samples.
On Umkringdur / Umsátur the icy electronic beats return, floating between resonant harmonics, and the ever present gloomy atmospheric drones. The metallic Hvergi drops any rhythmic element altogether, and leaves us with deconstructed plucked strings, choirs in the wasteland, and the sound of sheet metal crashing against the ice. Mistur continues the choral, cinematic theme, while Samkoman ties together elements of previous tracks with the beats united with treated piano, fractured strings, metallic clashes and sinister bass.
0718 picks up the pace, opening with Autechre-esque electronics, until percussive elements take hold and drive the track with a sense of urgency to it’s conclusion. The short Doom and Siesta Time is the closest we get to Icelandic pop, where the drones and beats leave us for a quiet interlude of melancholic harmonium and bells. Of the five remaining tracks, Metropolis, The Horns are Gone, and Campfire Scene deliver more of the sinister atmospherics and fractured beats.
Stálómur srips back the palette, with minimal beats and wooden perscussion, but still accompanied by that sense of dread pervading the landscape. Eg Sofna closes the album, as softly as it can, atmospheric strings and voices leading us out of the icy wilderness.

A stunning collection of glacial IDM from Traject.

Ben Askins

Boomkat

Excellent electronics from the Greek Creative Space imprint, basically picking up where Spezial Material left off with a new album from Icelandic producer Traject. We've heard very little from Traject for a few years, and his fans will be very pleased to know that his style of maudlin post-techno electronics is still as dark and intricate as ever. 'Penrose' initiates the session with a tense composition of cinematic atmospheres and contorting rhythm mechanics, both fluid and concrete. 'Bjart er yfir' follows with more doomy atmospherics of the widescreen and epic kind, weaving in whispered utterances and slow tribal drumming for the full effect. 'Samkoman' toys with minimal techno rhythms in a spatially screwed style similar to Vladislav Delay, while 'The Horns Are Gone' sets out to sea on pitching electro rhythms and ominous strings. There's a sense of narrative that ties the album togther as a complete package and the production levels are certainly intricate and complex enough to undergo intense scrutiny from the home listening crew. Fans of Robert Logan, Oberman Knocks or the old Spezial Material/Skam sound will love this.

Reviews for Strengir Hrynja:

"This superb debut from Icelander Gisli Thor Gudmundsson is a small masterpiece of abstract, deep sea Techno..." "The whole album is faboulously produced - there's an immense sonic depth and range on display in these pieces, a hyperreal opulence that makes for an experience almost too delicous to indulge in without feeling guilty."
- THE WIRE

"Strengir Hrynja represents a peak for Traject but also for the relatively new Zurich label Spezial Material. Certainly it’s indebted to Autechre and Gescom for its general style but Gudmundsson boldly pushes the album into an even more challenging realm of cold, abstract IDM. Listening to it, one marvels at its construction, while being simultaneously awed by its alien sonic universe."
- Stylus Magazine B+

The emphasis here is on robust, icy, deeply icelandic electronic fragmentation, inevitably bringing to mind Autechre at their most condensed. "Water For Muddy People" unfolds and opens the set with aquatic emphasis, slowed-up layers of percussion that take their time settling down with a discernable groove, a cacophony of drenched noises and soundscaping making for a hypnotic, trance-like listen through digital oceans of sound. "Chkal" is killer - a rotating snap of shattered beats and hammered strings orchestrated in the darkest tradition of IDM - a squashed haze of melody and beats littered with a sparing scatter of voice and distant MC rhymes. Awesome.
Fans of Autechre's EP7 and the more dancefloor focused Gescom will find much to admire here - Spezial material continues to build its impressive and highly collectable catalogue. Deep.
- Boomkat.com - Album of the week

"Með þessari frumraun sinni hefur Gísli Þór Guðmundsson skotist í fremstu röð íslenskra raftónlistarmanna. Hljóðaheimur hans er fjölskrúðugur og hugmyndaflugið óstöðvandi. Þessi plata hans er ekkert léttmeti en á henni talsvert af músík sem ætti að falla flestum raftónlistarvinum í geð."
- Morgunblaðið 5/5