Mikael Tobias presents his 3rd solo album, "As Breath," as a collection of musical meditations on impermanence, transience and the cyclical nature of life. A reckoning as witness to patterns of love and grief, the record is both delicate and intense in its invitation. Excavating beauty from the darkness, Tobias sculpts undulating textures that investigate our perception of memory and the karmic imprints we create in ourselves and others.
Recording began mid-pandemic, at the end of 2020, with the Crush String Collective (in trio form of Maria Jagd, Pauline Hogstrand and Oda Dyrnes), with subsequent recording, treatment and tinkering by Tobias throughout 2022 and 2023, after our “return to normal,” and during a spell of slowly unfurled personal devastations.
The original artwork by Morten Aagaard Krogh, an animistic collection of portraits of flowers in varying states of decay, encapsulates the ephemeral and fleeting nature imbued in the album.
Brooding yet hopeful, As Breath is as much about dread and despair as it is about transforming experience into faith and trust.
credits
released November 24, 2023
Composed, produced, recorded and mixed by Mikael Tobias.
Tracks 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 co-composed with Maria Martine Jagd, Pauline Hogstrand & Oda Dyrnes.
Mikael Tobias: bass, castanets, cymbals, feedback, guitar, lap steel guitar, noise, percussion, piano, programming, synthesizers.
Maria Martine Jagd: violin
Pauline Hogstrand: viola
Oda Dyrnes: cello
Mastered by Joel Krozer & Mikael at Six Bit Deep.
Artwork by Morten Aagaard Krogh.
Produced with support from the Danish Arts Council.
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