It’s been 2 weeks since the release of Svalr! Thanks so much for all the love and listens, I’m blown away by all the support.
Here’s some behind the scenes images recording the album on location. If you grab a copy of Svalr on Bandcamp, you get a booklet with more photos and info about the project. 🤍
1. Throwing hydrophones into Adventfjorden
2. Zoom in for walruses on the beach
3. Magnetic PZM driven into meltwater
5. Capturing resonance using DIY mic sculpture
6/7. Fingers freezing recording on and under the sea ice
8. Listening back and hearing a pod of Beluga whales
My album Svalr is out today.
So pleased to share this with you all.
Bandcamp and streaming links in bio. Bandcamp download comes with a field journal booklet.
Composed and produced by OD
Recorded by @andapanda31 and I on location in Svalbard
Mastered by @room40shoots at Negative Space
Digital release via @driftworks_recordings and @audiobulb
Thanks to @helpmusicians for the support,
and a special thanks to Andreea Ionascu, for the endless inspiration and encouragement,
and for whom this opportunity and project would not have been possible.
Le froid, ici, n’est pas un décor. C’est une matière sonore.
Avec Svalr, @od_alex capte le Svalbard comme un territoire en vibration : glace, roche, eau, faune, air, structures humaines… tout entre en résonance dans ce très beau deuxième volet de la série SITE.
Entre field recordings, manipulations sonores et nappes de synthétiseurs, l’artiste londonien compose un EP à la fois immersif, fragile, minéral et profondément absorbant.
Un EP qui ne raconte pas l’Arctique comme une carte postale blanche, mais comme une présence, une tension, une écoute.
La chronique est en ligne sur Solénopole : /chronique/alex-odonovan-svalr/
#alexodonovan #fieldrecording #ambientmusic #driftworks #audiobulb #sounddesign #experimentalambient #electroacoustic #solenopole #musiquesimaginogenes
Recorded by @andapanda31 and I on location in Svalbard
Mastered by @room40shoots at Negative Space
Digital release via @driftworks_recordings and @audiobulb
Svalr is an amazing site-specific album. Built from the sounds of glaciers, fjords, wildlife and human structures - it is a collection of sonic reflections and impressions from a field recording expedition to the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. @od_alex OD’s debut explores the synchronous harmonies of this isolated, extreme and rugged landscape.
SITE is a collaborative conceptual series curated by Driftworks and @audiobulb , exploring the relationship between sound and place. #ambientmusic #sitespecific #fieldrecording #electroacoustic #svalbard
Svalr is 5 tracks:
1. Arrival
2. Impermanence
3. Pale
4. Crushing
5. Permabloom
Each track on Svalr is a day of environmental recordings, which play back as a sensory field journal of Svalbard’s synchronous harmonies, changing climates and unconventional acoustics.
The EP flows between soft and minimal textures, to angular atonal noise, to melodic ambience,
with a minimalist approach to electronic composition that is always informed by the arrangement of field recordings.
Out 27th of March via @driftworks_recordings and @audiobulb !
In 2024, I asked @od_alex to assist me in completing a research project by spending 2 weeks in the northernmost inhabited place in the world, the Svalbad archipelago (77.8 N), mapping human electro acoustic impact using diy and unconventional recording techniques, following the footsteps of early arctic explorers.
The expedition kit included: 36 custom piezo mic array, 3 diy hydrophones, 1 EMI, diy contact mics with different attachments (magnets, spikes etc.), 1 geophone, Zoom H6 recorder, 2 cameras, 2 tripods, 1 laser distometer, casting materials, relief and soldering kits, other art supplies.
This project was made possible thanks to @slade_grad_sculpture , @sladegradsculpture and the generous support of the Boise Travel Scholarship.
Above: a series of 5 field recordings. (more to come)
In the summer of 2024, @andapanda31 and I travelled to Svalbard, a frozen archipelago high in the Arctic circle at 78 degrees N, just south of the North Pole.
We took an array of microphones, including DIY hydrophones, geophones, a multichannel piezo mic sculpture, electro magnetic interference mics and traditional stereo field recording gear, and set about capturing and mapping the sounds and signals across the arctic environment.
With these field recordings, I created Svalr, a noise/ambient album, and sonic field journal. I’m happy to announce that Svalr is set for release via @driftworks_recordings and @audiobulb on the 27th of March!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting more from the expedition, with various recordings, images and discoveries. Can’t wait to share this with all of you! 🤍
By Ear-studios... Music breakdown “The additional music extends the size, shape and setting of Roy Orbison’s ‘Dream Baby’ into a more cinematic, substantive present day soundtrack, in line with this epic dream-state fantasy film. Each additional musical element was carefully considered as ‘Dream Baby’ had to remain central whilst simultaneously upscaling the breadth and overall magnitude of the score.”
