Jónsi and Carl Michael von Hausswolff combine field recordings and drone on new album Dark Morph

Made from recordings of whales, bats and other wildlife across the South Pacific.

Sigur Rós vocalist Jónsi and visual artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff have teamed up to release special one-off project Dark Morph, via Krunk and The Vinyl Factory.

Exploring the environment impact of human activity on the world’s oceans and commissioned by TBA21–Academy, the album emerged following time spent on a research vessel in the seas around Fiji. While on board, the pair made hydrophone and field recordings of humpback whales, bats, shrimp and the ‘dark morph’ heron found in the region, which lends its name to the project.

“While we were on the boat I started to take the recordings, manipulate them and mutate them into drones or other types of musical functions – so we could use the sounds as instruments for building compositions,” explains von Hausswolff. “When I had done some drones, some long tones out of a bird or something, I gave it to Jónsi and he started to peel off certain types of melodious things, and then play it to me.”

Assembled and mixed in Jamaica, the release of the album will be accompanied by a live performance also commissioned by TBA21–Academy at the Venice Biennale on 10th May, where the duo will present an audio installation entitled The So(ng)qe/Tovuto Kyrrahafið Sound Field from 7th May until 30th June. Click here to RSVP for the event.

The self-titled Dark Morph album is released on 10th May. Pre-order a copy here, and check out the artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist:

1. SO(NG)QE
2. Ura Dardanella
3. Beka Tovuto
4. Tovuto
5. Kavura
6. Wai
7. Bani Manumanu
8. Beka Yalo