BLACK EARTH CAIRN, by Ian Nyquist

BLACK EARTH CAIRN

by Ian Nyquist

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Poster/Print
100 copies of very limited edition multimedia including:

Double sided A3 print featuring album cover, track listing, and credits

Laser engraved USB containing :
- 12 track album in WAV format
- Accompanying artwork in the form of an E-book which showcases the photography of Saoirse Sexton and the written verse of Aislinn Shanahan Daly

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1.	I 03:52	buy track
2.	II 04:52	buy track
3.	III 03:50	buy track
4.	IV 03:07	buy track
5.	V 05:02	buy track
6.	VI 07:09	buy track
7.	VII 02:06	buy track
8.	VIII 04:33	buy track
9.	IX 05:14	buy track
10.	X 04:45	buy track
11.	XI 04:49	buy track
12.	XII 06:03	buy track

about

There is a dread that never rests - a lament which lies deep in the barren rock valleys and moorlands of the Wicklow Mountains. Lost in the dark, in unrelenting wind and rain.

Ian Nyquist is a Dublin based composer with roots firmly set in the world of soundtrack styled atmospherics. He explores classical composition with contemporary production all within a sound which is uniquely his own.

Black Earth Cairn is a project funded by the Irish Arts Council which came from cathartic expeditions through the Wicklow Mountains near Ian’s home in Dublin. Driving through remote areas of the landscape and walking through Wicklow’s windswept heaths developed into a pilgrimage in tandem with the production of the album that largely informed the project.

“The landscape is barren and empty, but standing on the moors at night surrounded by towering rock faces illuminated in moonlight, or sometimes shrouded entirely in cloud and gales that seemingly come up from the ground, it is relentlessly active. You are completely at the mercy of the land.” Ian says

The sense of exposure to the elements is ever-present in Black Earth Cairn’s music. Starting from a wild, untethered mark and settling into a more refined, mantric lull in the second half, the definitive flow of Black Earth Cairn is informed by the metal, neo-classical, and folk music Ian listened to during the album’s production.

Every specific moment on the album has been decisively recorded from sessions of experimentation with the extremes and limitations of a bass guitar.

Ian comments that: “A bass guitar has this visceral, brutal, metallic quality which you don’t really get from other bowed instruments. You can hear the heaving, growling, laboured, breaths as each note is forced out of an instrument being unconventionally played; bowing, tuning while playing, or detuning the strings until they can’t even carry a note and have more of a percussive rattle. The instrument takes on a whole new sound that is as alien as it is familiar”

This otherworldly aesthetic is also featured in Saoirse Sexton’s film and infrared images which document the form and architecture of Wicklow’s barren expanse. Written verse co-penned by Aislinn Shanahan Daly accompanies the project in addition as it cryptically and instinctively responds to the musical themes of the album. The written verse and photography for Black Earth Cairn are presented as an E-Book alongside the release.

credits

released March 14, 2023

Music written, composed, recorded, and produced by Ian Nyquist
instagram.com/ian_nyquist

Writing: Aislinn Shanahan Daly

Photography: Saoirse Sexton
nstagram.com/saoirsesextonphotography

Final Master: Oli Hazely
instagram.com/ozwaldoli

This project was funded by the Irish Arts Council

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about

Ian Nyquist Dublin, Ireland

Ian Nyquist is a Dublin based composer and producer whose work is distinctly soundtrack- driven with roots firmly set in the world of soundtrack styled atmospherics. He explores classical composition with contemporary production all within a sound which is uniquely his own.

insta: @ian_nyquist
email: iannyqvist@gmail.com ... more

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