We are thrilled to announce that the latest Gydja album, Ár var alda, is now available from the wonderful Winter-Light label. Mastered by Robin Storey of Rapoon, Ár var alda is presented in both digital download and CD format, packaged in a six panel digipak with artwork by Midnight Sun Studio. Ár var alda is a simultaneously chthonic and celestial exploration of the opening moments of creation in Norse cosmology, as described in Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál, envisioned as a suite of nine Rökkr ambient tracks spread across four movements. Winter-Light describes it as an album of deep, primordial dark ambient consisting of thick, expansive drones, woven through with intricate percussive elements, unearthly vocals and atmospheric field recordings. Ár var alda

Continue readingNew Gydja album, Ár var alda, available on Winter-Light

Svartsinn’s classic album Traces of Nothingness has just been reissued on CD and vinyl by Cyclic Law and we’re happy to be included on this incarnation of a landmark release with a Gydja remix of No Passage To The Innermost, sitting alongside remixes by Lamia Vox, Triarii and Letum. Available as digital download, digipak CD, standard black vinyl, special grey and black marbled vinyl from Cyclic Law’s bandcamp, and also, via Autarkeia, on high quality cassette. ??Traces Of Nothingness by SVARTSINN

Gydja features along with 118 other artists on the compilation PSI-SOLATION: A Global Compilation of Music Made in Lockdown from Campbell Kneale’s Celebrate Psi-Phenomenon label. Available from bandcamp. https://celebratepsiphenomenon.bandcamp.com/album/psi-solation PSI-SOLATION by a global compilation of music made in lockdown

We are proud to be part of Drone Records’ vinyl series Drone-Mind/Mind-Drone, with Gydja’s Gjallarbru joining contributions from Clade, Monocube and Yrsel. The release is on solid silver coloured vinyl, with graphic design by Abby Helasdottir, using two paintings by British painter Pete Greening; limited ed. of 400 copies. Gjallarbru is something of a cyclic track in that it plays on themes that have always been at the forefront of Gydja’s music: liminality, divisions between worlds, the journey rather than the destination. Indeed, one of the first Gydja compositions, recorded to cassette tape from an old Casio SK-1 sampling keyboard (and probably sounding awful now), was called View from Gjallarbru. None of the sounds from that track were recycled into this

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Edgar Kerval and I had discussed collaborating on a musical project for several years before we finally brought Emme Ya and Gydja together. Despite this gestation, the theme (for dark ambient must always have a theme) was one that eluded us. Given some of the concepts considered by both Gydja and Emme Ya, a Babalonian motif seemed appropriate, but since I had recorded a whole double CD worth of Babalon-inspired material several years ago, this felt like it would be a retread, a wearing of the material that could leave it a little thin. Eventually, after much contemplation, I had a realisation: Marjorie Cameron. For as long as I have explored magick, Cameron has had a place, often flitting on

Continue readingMusings on Apsinthion

Here’s the trailer for the Gydja and Emme Ya collaboration Apsinthion

Gydja’s 2008 album Helchemy is now available for download from bandcamp.com You can buy a pure digital version or order a physical copy (with immediate digital download). This album was originally released by Italian label AFE Records. Helchemy by Gydja

Gydja’s Umbilicuis Maris was originally released on the Mystery Sea label in 2007. Long sold out, it is being made available on bandcampo.com Reviews of the release can be found here: home.scarlet.be/~chalkdc/Gydja_UM.htm “Nec satis procul ab hoc de quo praemisimus litore, contra occidentalem partem, profundissima aquarum illa vorago est, quam usitato nomine maris umbilicum vocamus. Quae bis in die fluctus absorbere et rursum evomere dicitur, sicut per universa illa litora accedentibus ac recedentibus fluctibus celeritate nimia fieri comprobatur. Not very far from this shore of which we have spoken, towards the western side, on which the ocean main lies open without end, is that very deep abyss of waters which we call ‘the navel of the sea’. It is said

Continue readingUmbilicus Maris on Bandcamp