We are thrilled to announce the third edition from the ‘Notebook Series’ collection. The latest instalment comes from Swedish drone connoisseur Tobias Hellkvist. Tobias (b. 1984) is a composer, sound designer, foley – and sound artist. He is best known musically for his ambient, drone and electroacoustic output, which has been released worldwide on labels like Home Normal (UK/JPN), Dronarivm (RUS), Fluid Audio (UK) and Dragon’s Eye Recordings (US.
Tobias Hellkvist’s Annoying Tyrannies, the latest instalment in our ongoing Notebook Series, is a long, slow-to-build exploration of deep space. Hellkvist works slowly, so the music is always natural and open to the possibilities of change, angling off course, like a satellite pulled into the magnetism of a planet’s orbit. Several twists and turns are always on the horizon, even in the immensity of deep space, where signals are no more; the only sound is a light snake-hiss of static. Despite the uncertainty of change, Annoying Tyrannies goes with the flow, learning from its troubles and tests and growing all the more for its exposure to solar flares. The ambient-drone revolves and stirs up a vibe of meditation: calm and circular; a glowing chakra radiating from within a living body, itself a capsule of stardust, an intimate space residing in the limitless expanse of the Universe.
Heavily invested in its sound but as welcoming as a meditative retreat, Annoying Tyrannies is an excursion to a quiet exoplanet in a tranquil nebula. Perhaps everything is going to plan. The music seems to echo out this mantra: that everything is in order, and everything is as it should be.
John Lennon once said ‘there’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be’, and Hellkvist’s music is a comforting reassurance, too. Asteroids whizz over the planet’s sphere – something similar slaughtered the dinosaurs – and living on a susceptible ball of molten rock means that change is inevitable, but there’s something calm and incredibly reassuring about the music. It rests in the arms of the Milky Way while absorbing light from our red sun. Phantasmagoric melodies emerge in the drone, suspended and glinting in the light of unhindered sunshine. They point to things bigger than our backwater; it’s music for stargazing.
Made by hand,
This set of 9 notebooks (1 notebook per customer) printed on luxury 300gsm card stock provides you with a scaled down version of the Solar System to help you grasp the sheer size of the the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn and just how insignificant the Earth appears among these others. Each notebook has an inner page with all of the vital information about it’s planet (or Sun), and a set of Universal constants on the back page to explain the measurements used. You also get a planet/star symbol print that matches the notebook. Inside each notebook is 15 x vintage prints by Trouvelot, E. L. (1881 – 1882), page inserts from rare antique astronomy books: “In The High Heavens” by Sir Robert S. Ball (1894) and “The Planetary and Stellar Worlds’ by O. M. Mitchel (1880), a limited edition stamped / hand numbered print by Dano Marr, 2 x 3” CDs, bellyband and scent. All of the above will rest inside glassine bags sealed with washi tape.
Made with love…
Credits:
Composed, mixed and mastered by Tobias Hellkvist.
Cover artwork: “Annoying Tyrannies” by Dano Marr.
Album design by Daniel Crossley.