Drone Records

GYDJA - Helchemy

Format: CD-R

Label & Cat.Number: AFE RECORDS afe116lcd 081027

Release Year: 2008

Note: lim. 100 in lovely oversized full-colour cardboard cover

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €12.00

Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock!

More Info

Female dark cosmic / esoteric ambience from New Zealand, very dreamy, like a mellow version of INADE maybe... recommended!!

"Abby Helasdottir has been creating music since 1995 under the name Gydja (an Old Norse word for "priestess"). Initially, the aim of the project was to create music that could be used for magickal and shamanic purposes. Some of the earliest ideas involved using field recordings, and basing whole pieces on these sounds in a largely unprocessed way. This is still a concern of Gydja, but with more emphasis now being placed on abstracting these sounds so that, whilst they retain a sense of their original source, they become something else entirely. The current style of Gydja differs from the initial intentions of the project, with music of both a mundane and magickal nature being created. And whilst the music is usually linear and could be defined as a soundscape, it is also not necessarily always dark ambient in style, embracing electro-acoustic and experimental techniques. Works designed specifically for magickal use sit alongside explorations of sound for sound's sake; and in a third tier, some exploration of sound contain magickal themes, even if there is no practical magickal application intended. Among her releases we remember "Liber Babalon" (2001), "Cold Seed" (2002), "Rivers…" (2002), "Corpus Callosum" (Kolorform Records, 2004 - a collaboration between Gydja and Aidan Baker), "Ma-mo Rbad Gtong" (Chmafu Records, 2005 - a collaboration with Austrian musician Marufura Fufunjiru), "Umbilicus Maris" (Mystery Sea, 2007) and "Machina Mundi" (Gears of Sand, 2008). In addition to her work as Gydja, Abby is also involved with the performance art project Torture By Roses ("Sebastian/Salome" CD available from Mediatrix Publishing), and the militant industrial formation Clear Stream Temple ("XVI" CD out on Cold Spring Records). Consisting of two long tracks and clocking at about fifty minutes, "Helchemy" is Gydja's latest full-lenght work at the time of writing, and we're happiest to release it as part of the Afe catalogue. The album title is a portmanteau combining the name of Hela, Germanic goddess of the dead, and the art of alchemy. As such, it considers the way in which imagery associated with alchemy can be related to Hela, particularly the motif of a venomous black toad that is found in many alchemical tracts. Beginning with synthesized soft atmospheres, the opening "The Spirit of the Earth With Venom Intoxicate" gains an aquatic feeling in its first movement. Pads are paired with ring-modulated effects and then the music evolves into a more mysterious cauldron filled with ritual percussions and bells. A gentle melody - resembling a plucked guitar or another string instrument - emerges for a while in the middle section before disappearing in synth bubbles. A flute theme is briefly introduced and then reappears later as the track is constantly transformed until reaching its final stage.
"The Black Sea, the Black Lune, the Black Soll" starts in a simple percussive way with various bell-like sounds layed on synth flows and more unclear background microevents. Slightly distorted elements are added to the mix and the music seems to get aggressive for a while, before returning to a more reassuring mood. Water samples, field-recordings and other sounds resembling animal activities guide the listener through another tranformational process. Music gets darken as percussions return and more sound effects create a disquieting atmosphere. A human voice suddendly appear to introduce the last movement, a more minimal ending filled with morbid synth lines and assorted percussive sounds. As an album concept, "Helchemy" is something that the author has explored for several years, creating a version of the release based on cassette experiments in the late nineties. Nothing of this version appears in the current incarnation, but the themes which first initiated the idea are there. "Helchemy" comes in a beautiful and inspired artwork created by Gydja herself." [label info]

"... This sounds more like an undersea journey, with Gydja’s already established fondness for field recordings being woven very subtly into the mix of deep shifting drones and sparse, tolling beats. These works are also much more structured in their development than the term drone might usually suggest. There are two long pieces, running to a little under 51 minutes which held my attention very well throughout. The full range of these soundscapes is especially vivid on large speakers, but I enjoyed the disc on a ghettoblaster in my kitchen too! There’s a nice balance between the electronics, which might have a tendency towards coldness, with an enveloping warmth. I was struck at one point by what, to my ears, was a bit like a meeting of Isao Tomita’s synthesizer performances of Debussy with deep sea mammal sonar signals.
All in all, a rewarding listen whether you’re into the “magick” side of things or not! [John Cavanagh (10 June, 2009) Foxy Digitalis]