Caeli is spun out of the idea of skies and dimensions merging into a borderless being, boasting of a rich and vivid texture, at times carrying numerous worlds inside at once. During the recording of Caeli, Bára and Skúli would have long discussions about how the world is opening up and how this would and could affect music as well. They like to look at Caeli as a product of this openness - a crystallisation of freedom, exposure and transparency in sound.

Bára Gísladóttir (born 1989) is an Icelandic composer and double bassist based in Copenhagen. She studied composition at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Conservatorio di Musica "Giuseppe Verdi" in Milan and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Her music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as Athelas Sinfonietta, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, The Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Duo Harpverk, Elektra Ensemble, Elja Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble New Babylon, Ensemble recherche, Esbjerg Ensemble, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, loadbang, Marco Fusi, Mimitabu, NJYD, Nordic Affect, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Riot Ensemble, Siggi String Quartet, TAÏGA String Quartet and TAK Ensemble. Bára´s pieces have been selected for festivals such as Dark Music Days, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, International Rostrum of Composers, KLANG Festival, Nordic Music Days and Ung Nordisk Musik. She has received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation’s Talent Awards, Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, The Reykjavík Grapevine's Music Awards, and has been nominated to the Carl Prize as 'Composer of the year', the Kraumur Music Awards three times for 'Album of the year' and The Icelandic Music Awards twice for 'Piece of the year'. Bára is an active performer and regularly plays her own music, mostly solo or with her long time collaborator, Skúli Sverrisson. In addition to this, she is the double bassist of Elja Ensemble. She has also performed with Ensemble Adapter, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and S.L.Á.T.U.R..

Skúli Sverrisson was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. He has built a unique career as a composer, instrumentalist and creative collaborator. Skúli was active in the downtown music scene of New York, regularly performing and recording with Wadada Leo Smith, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ben Monder, Pachora among others. During this period Skúli also recorded and toured worldwide with Alan Holdsworth and worked closely with artist Laurie Anderson on various productions and recordings.  While living in New York Skúli still kept close relations with his fellow musicians in Iceland. For the release ‘Sería’ he originally formed a group that brought his closest collaborators in New York: Anthony Burr, Eyvind Kang and Amedeo Pace together with upcoming Icelandic artists; Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ólöf Arnalds, all of whom he later created meaningful and lasting work relationships with, touching many exceptional works such as Ólöf’s debut Við og við, Jóhann’s scores for Sicario and Mandy and Hildur’s album Without Sinking.  When Skúli returned to Iceland he started Mengi, a performance space that has since become a central place for creative music in Reykjavík. Skúli has worked with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra both as a performer and composer. Other notable Icelandic collaborations in the recent years include Víkingur Ólafsson, Megas, Shoplifter, HAM and Bára Gísladóttir.

Disc 1:

1. unum caelum [5:40]
2. cieli pesanti [13:40]
3. caelum apertum [9:57]
4. SVEIFLA [7:12]
5. caeli movendi sunt et terra [18:31]
6. anche il mare è un cielo [3:26]
7. I believe so [1:59]
8. SEIGLA [9:39]

Disc 2:

9. anche la terra è un cielo [10:10]
10. soaring skies [5:44]
11. all heavens [10:27]
12. stretching skies [6:29]
13. anche l'inferno è un cielo [10:38]
14. harmonic interlude [2:51]
15. the heavens have no mercy [2:22]
16. gul viðvörun [1:53]
17. FORCE [2:12]
18. some sort of closure [4:03]
19. afterlife [2:59]

Total Time: 2:09:43

Total time: 2:09:43
Release date: March 19th, 2021
UPC: 053479702029

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Quotes & Reviews

“Together they create dark, roiling sounds that are simultaneously elusive and harrowing, as rich striated creaks, moans, and spidery lines bowed by Gísladóttir hover over and collide with a shifting array of ominous, spectral soundscapes sculpted by Sverrisson with extended techniques and masterful electronic manipulations. These 19 pieces emanate from a similar, meditative wellspring, but the musicians produce an incredibly varied sound world that routinely belies its two-bass source with works that both capture the improvisational drift and seem to follow clear compositional paths.”
Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical: April 2021, Peter Margasak

“ambient music with an edge.”
Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge

“I found the work expressive and beautiful. More along the lines of a Deep Listening experience… Caeli is exquisite in its expression of layered textural nuances created between the partnership of the acoustic double bass and the electric bass and processing. This is an album that is at times darkly overbearing while simultaneously free and endless; it is without borders, almost frightening in the way one might dream about falling off the edge of a flat Earth or losing sight of the mothership while floating in space.” - Cheryl Ockrant, The Whole Note