This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
CMU Approved
Approved: Hekla
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 17 September 2018
Describing her sound as “minimalist sci-fi”, Hekla has just released her debut album, ‘Á’, a collection of compositions for theremin and voice.
The haunted, sparse sounds of the album probably don’t sound much like what you’re currently imagining based on that initial description. She doesn’t go in for the sudden, dramatic sounds generally associated with the theremin.
Instead, she goes in for something altogether more restrained, using the instrument, her vocals and other sounds to build something more atmospheric. At times the instrument can sound like a violin, in other moments it might be mistaken for some sort of industrial noise.
The title of the album, she explains, is sort of a play on words in her native Icelandic: “A river is an á and also it means ‘ouch’, like when you hurt yourself, and also when you put something on top of something you put it á [on] something”.
Hekla is set to play two UK shows next month. You can catch her at the Servant Jazz Quarters in London on 15 Oct, and then The Cube in Bristol on 16 Oct.
Watch the video for ‘Heyr Himna Smiður’, Hekla’s take on a classic Icelandic hymn, here:
Stay up to date with all of the artists featured in the CMU Approved column by subscribing to our Spotify playlist.
