Swedish composer Tomas Nordmark preps ‘Exit Ghosts’ (stream “Spirit”)
Swedish composer and sound artist Tomas Nordmark will release a new album, Exit Ghosts, on May 14 via Valley of Search. “I’m interested in the sonic no man’s land, travelling on a blurry border between the electronic and acoustic where the two realms are ambiguously interlocked,” he says.
The instrumental album was inspired by fellow sonic explorers like Tim Hecker, Arthur Russell, and Jóhann Jóhannsson, creating a world that is ambient and enveloping, minimalist but layered and deep with feeling. We’ve got the premiere of the eerie, ethereal “Spirit,” as well as its video, which Nordmark also made, using film footage shot by British cinematographer Ashley Briggs in northern Sweden. “Taking cues from Arthur Russel’s otherworldly distorted cello particularly echoed on his seminal World of Echo, ’Spirit’ traces not only the NYC downtown avant garde but also a potential pop music where noise is percussion and melodies doesn’t repeat in full, as if improvised and rigidly controlled at the same time,” Tomas says. “I think this visual accompaniment emphasises this ambiguity; we’re travelling on a blurry border.” Watch the video below.
You can pre-order Exit Ghosts now, and there’s a special Bandcamp exclusive vinyl version that’s pressed on midnight shadows vinyl — only 100 were made, and today being Bandcamp Friday, it would be a good day to snag that one. Check out a picture of the vinyl, the “Spirit” video and a couple other tracks from the album below.