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Novaya Zemlya

by Glåsbird

supported by
frank vercruyssen
frank vercruyssen thumbnail
frank vercruyssen Absolutely phenomenal, like all releases of Glåsbird. Essential listening.
albinobone
albinobone thumbnail
albinobone I'm a sucker for the bleak, insular and post-apocalyptic. It gives me hope by virtue of not promising anything which is not already there. Favorite track: Vanya [Ваня].
nmcr01
nmcr01 thumbnail
nmcr01 For a forsaken child
You surely made a mark
A legacy for the lost,
An image for the defiled
Notoriety's sorry child
You did not ask to be broken -
Death falling slowly
From the arctic sky,
A poison glacial lifetimes
Cannot digest.
Vanya's cynicism
The measure of a war colder
Than the icy waters
That keep your shores.
Typecast in malevolence.
In truth
You exist
And are used;
Your reputation stolen.
I wish you peace,
Solitude,
A chance to sleep
Untroubled;
Washed and held
By fog and ocean. Favorite track: Vanya [Ваня].
Lost Tribe Sound
Lost Tribe Sound thumbnail
Lost Tribe Sound Another absolutely creative and clever transformation of sound from the elusive Glåsbird. Perhaps the most haunting and tense chapter yet, the concrete sound palette cuts through the grey in ways both uneasy and sorrowful. Yet, as with all Glåsbird releases there is a light still a glow, a beacon on an otherwise hostile sea.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 223 Whitelabrecs releases available on Bandcamp and save 90%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Story of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, Boat, Vignettes, homegrown apples, Re-Cartographies, Proscenium, So Many, Diminishes, Restless Nature, and 215 more. , and , .

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  • Limited deluxe edition gatefold vinyl-effect CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This special limited edition release is in a run of 100 copies, modelled around the classic gatefold vinyl LP. It includes printed front, rear and inner sleeves featuring photography by Uliana Prokhorova, along with a card sleeve which houses a printed vinyl-effect CDr.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Novaya Zemlya via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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about

The fictitious tour of far-away lands continues, as anonymous artist Glåsbird follows the scratchy, folk-ambience of Norskfjǫrðr with a return to lonely arctic-island sounds. Novaya Zemlya is a Russian-owned island, stretching from just off the mainland between the Kara and Barents seas, with two islands split by the Matochkin Strait.

The Southern island Yuzhny is the home of a few inhabitants whereas the Northern counterpart Severny is pretty much all glacier. The added complication of sea-ice during Arctic winters have made certain parts of this land very difficult to navigate. There are accounts stretching back to the 16th century when explorer Willem Barentsz died on an expedition and his body is rumoured to have been buried on Severny.
Into more recent times, Novaya Zemlya has been a sensitive military area throughout the cold war as well as a nuclear testing site. In 1961 the world's most powerful nuclear weapon was detonated, the 'Tsar Bomba'.

In this album, Glåsbird composes a soundtrack which transcends the years of history, combining themes of explorers and Barentsz's tragic demise, isolation, climate change and polar bears, underpinned by radio broadcasts to give a slightly unsettling undercurrent, hinting back to the cold war. The track Vanya is named after a code name the Russians had for the Tsar Bomba detonation project and this piece sits at the centre of this album, in some of the most dramatic soundtrack work this artist has made to date.

The cover artwork and bonus images within the CD packaging were taken by photographer Uliana Prokhorova, who visited a few locations on the island. As always, this album uses the sounds, photography and track titles to build an imaginary soundtrack in your mind as you listen and immerse yourself in this latest sonic exploration.

credits

released September 26, 2020

Written and produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Uliana Prokhorova

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Whitelabrecs England, UK

Whitelabrecs is a record label established in 2016, specialising in highly limited runs of vinyl-effect CDrs and occasional digital-only editions. The discography focuses on contemporary Ambient music, including Drone, Modern Classical and Electro Acoustic. ... more

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