Svalbard Soundtracks, by Mute Frequencies

Svalbard Soundtracks

by Mute Frequencies

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of bluelightnospaceflattime, Atmospheric Densities #21, Soundwalkscapes, Atmospheric Densities #20, Opticks, The Colour of Water, Metal, Svalbard Soundtracks, and 131 more. , and , .
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1.	Further North There Is Only The North Pole 10:00	buy track
2.	Spitsbergen 18:01	buy track
3.	A Trip to Svalbard 11:01	buy track

about

"Permanently teetering on a precipice between playful and profound, the scope of this record covers intricate concrete sounds, grooves equal parts loungey and industrial, and shimmering synths."
THE QUIETUS

Inspired by three silent documentaries about the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Mute Frequencies have produced an infectious, restless and disturbing journey across time and place in these soundtracks for nostalgic tales of human endeavour, and natural beauty.

From dust speckled black and white footage of seal carcasses, craggy fjords and mining towns to the washed out palette of 1970s Soviet canteens for dusty miners the duo of Ilia Rogatchevski and Laura Rogatchevskaia have crafted a poignant album which aims to explore not just a place, but its representation across particular moments in time.

The three works which comprise the album are named for the silent documentaries they aim to soundtrack: Further North, There Is Only the North Pole (1976, USSR), Spitsbergen (1958, Poland), and A Trip To Svalbard (1930, Norway). As we move back in time over the course of the album from 1976 to 1930 we discover very different versions of Svalbard and its inhabitants, both within each piece, and between them. There are the triumphant synths of Further North, There Is Only the North Pole with its patriotic Soviet miners of the 1970s. While the nature-focused Spitsbergen (1958) with its spectacular landscapes, curious foxes, auks and intrepid explorers moves rapidly from sparse, metallic tinkling to bursts of drums, plucked bass and shakers within just one short section. The final work which places us amid A Trip To Svalbard from 1930 and its stories of hostile weather, hunting, heroic men and mining detonations builds us a world from percussive strikes, vibrating sheets of metal and stabs of industrial synth tones.

Svalbard Soundtracks is a beguiling album which plays with the conventions of nature documentaries, just as it meditates on the particular resonances of nostalgia.

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Mute Frequencies is the sound art project of Ilia Rogatchevski and Laura Rogatchevskaia, both former members of the London post-punk band Sebastian Melmoth.

credits

released August 17, 2023

All sounds composed, arranged and produced by Mute Frequencies.
Recorded between 2019 and 2022 at our home studio in north London and various locations in the UK.

Ilia Rogatchevski (guitars, bass, electric organ, synths, field recordings) and Laura Rogatchevskaia (drums, field recordings, sample pad, objects, effects).

Kitsuné Rogatchevskaia plays Coolicon lampshades, tubular bells and other objects on ‘A Trip to Svalbard’.

Light paintings by Laura and Kitsuné.
Svalbard photographs by Andrei Rogatchevski.
Design by Kate Carr.

mutefrequencies.com
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Flaming Pines London, UK

“Flaming Pines is itself a topography of hidden global sounds." The Wire.

We are a label focused on field recording, sound art and experimental ambient music.

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