Subviola’s latest recording is a three track EP, Dustmites Depend On Us / Vinir okkar rykmaurarnir, showing a harder edge with a noisier, industrial aesthetic. The work sonifies the tension and anxiety of witnessing a civilization hell-bent on self destruction from the point of view of the lowly dustmite. Being dependent on their human hosts, dustmites have much to be concerned about for the future of their species. With the recent global spread of corrupt authoritarianism, human rights abuses, climate change, and nuclear weapons proliferation, the feeling of helplessness is palpable in the tracks. Can humans learn from our friends and fellow travelers the dustmite? Only time will tell, hence the temporality referenced in the track names.
Recorded long-distance in Seattle and Reykjavík in 2017, the titles of the release and tracks are in both Icelandic and English. Released in 2018 by Flat Field Records.
Subviola is an electro-acoustic experimental noise project by Icelandic sound artist Hilmar Bjarnason and American transmedia artist David W. Halsell. The collaboration formed in 2005 in Pittsburgh, PA and performed one (now legendary) show at the historic Kresge Theater. After re-forming in 2015 after a ten-year hiatus, the duo work remotely from Reykjavík and Seattle.
Subviola combines field recordings, synthesis, and acoustic instrumentation in their compositions. Like a long-distance chess game, the duo send tracks and ideas back and forth, combining both a compositional intentionality and an openness to improvisation. The resulting works are cinematic soundscapes that veer between brutish industrial noise to whelming washes of aural alchemy.
Various conceptual concerns in the work have explored the intersections and boundaries of culture, noise, and place; as well as the inherent power structures and territoriality of noise. Thematically, Subviola has explored the impact of railroads in industrialization, as well as environmental concerns on their more recent work.
Track Listing:
- Past / Áður
- Future / Seinna
- Present / Núna
