Bandcamp Reviews: Kim Hiorthøy and Gryphon Rue
Every Friday, I plan to buy one or two "new to me" releases on Bandcamp. ”New to me” is something I just now discovered or finally bought. Whether it be from 1972 of 2025. I will then listen to these releases for a couple of days and then post my unfiltered thoughts*. So, at the very least there should be a post a week (with some exceptions of course).
*there is no such thing as bad music – just music you dislike. So you won't ever see me saying something is bad etc – just why it didn't work for me.
This week's reviews will be of two different releases that are cut from the same cloth. However, this observation is not mine – it comes from the writer, Bernie Brooks and their Quietus review of I Keep My Diamond Necklace In A Pond Of Sparkling Water. Regardless, I will also explore this idea and why it matters (or maybe it doesn't?). Now on to the reviews...
Gryphon Rue Prologue
I am not sure how this release ended up on my Bandcamp wishlist. I don't recall putting it there but the name looked intriguing. So I took the plunge and was blown away. This album is something special —I would even say it groundbreaking. So, once again I asked myself, where did you hear about this album? I wanted to revisit the source – read more about the artist etc. So I tried a few web searches with the album title and likely suspects. None of them were right but the Quietus review mentioned above provided exactly what I was looking for, more insight.
One particular quote stood out for me:
Kim Hiorthøy, when describing his latest LP Ghost Note, said it’s “a kind of emotional music that also hides in abstraction (or the other way around).” I Keep My Diamond Necklace In A Pond Of Sparkling Water shares this quality. It’s deeply moving without ever being easy or aiming for the middle - Bernie Brooks
This idea almost immediately caused me to purchase Ghost Note. How could I not, if it is was in any way similar to this release, I had to hear it. Which gets us back to the Gryphon Rue review (more on the ideas behind that quote later).
I Keep My Diamond Necklace in a Pond of Sparkling Water by Gryphon Rue
This musical composition is like hearing a foreign language for the first time that you do not understand but you still find it uncommonly beautiful/full of expression. Occasionally, you can make out words that you have in your tongue as well (or are you learning this new language?), which in turn increases your interests. While it should be classified as alien, it is both familiar and without a reference point. You want to hear more and immerse yourself so that you become fluent in the language and its obscure beauty.
The sounds themselves are a swirling mixture of synthetics, organics, field recordings and musical familiarity askew. The production and attention to sound sculpting is meticulous without ever feeling that there is a forced direction. This is both a serious composition and a musical exploration that that offers escape – it offers much to the academics and music lovers alike
Essential.
Ghost Note by Kim Hiorthøy
Where the previous release was alien but familiar, this album is the opposite – It is familiar but alien. And like the previous release, I would say it is groundbreaking and something quite special.
Most if not all the music on this release sounds like it could have come from home made instruments that were meant to mimic the sound of actual instruments (which begs the question, who decides what an actual instrument is?). I am fairly certain that these are electronic compositions that whether intentionally or not, are made to sound like anything but electronic. From a sci-fi point of view, I imagine this would be the output of an alien trying to make human outsider music. The music is beautiful and drips with emotion but its simply off (in the best way possible). Which is gives it a strange feel – one that keeps the listener a bit unbalanced on the journey.
Both of these albums share the concept of a journey. Though the journeys are very different – they unfold in much the same way. There is a sense of coherence to the sonic landscapes – it is not by chance.
Lastly, often the music feels like it is falling apart. This is something I am very interested in and in my head, have heard music similar to this (and want to create music of the same ilk). Think of a string ensemble but the music is off time, semi-corrupted and both in sync/out of sync with everyone else. Overall, the listener gets a sense of the complete piece but what they actually hear is the music decaying and fading out of existence.
Essential
Cut from the Same Cloth
So what is the commonality? Both pieces represent musical journeys using the familiar and alien. Both are deeply rooted in beauty and emotion – but they deliver in very different ways. Both are ambient but the former is more confrontational with its usage of field recordings and movement. In short, both represent an abstraction that explores emotions and how we define them.
So, why does it matter that they have similar DNA? They clearly are not copies of each other and I do not know if either artists knows each other/heard each other's music. From a practical point of view, it gives the listener different views/execution on similar ideas. From a more new age point of view, it illustrates how we are all connected – somehow these two artists have tapped into the same thing and produced very different music with similar outcomes. For me, that is fascinating – it begs the questions, where does creativity come from? Does the form of the creativity matter? or just the outcome? All good questions to be explored elsewhere but for now, being aware of the commonality is what matters.
Photo by Daniel De Los Santos, East Austin TX