Icelandic cellist, singer, and composer Gyda Valtysdottir, a founder of the band múm and 2019 winner of the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize, releases Epicycle II on her label DiaMond in collaboration with Sono Luminus on August 28, 2020.

 Epicycle II, which was produced by Gyda and mixed with Jónsi, features music written for her, and/or in collaboration with her, by eight of Iceland´s most compelling composers – Ólöf Arnalds, Daníel Bjarnason, Úlfur Hansson, Jónsi, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Kjartan Sveinsson, Skúli Sverrisson, and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. The album is a sequel to her highly acclaimed first solo album from 2017, Epicycle, on which Gyda created personal renditions of written music spanning over 2000 years. An epicycle refers to the geometric model of the solar system by the Ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy, in which a smaller circle’s center moves around the circumference of a larger circle.

 On Epicycle II, Gyda stretches the boundaries of genre even further, selecting composers who all have created their own unique sonic environments. The outcome is an expansive and colorful landscape, varied but connected in profound unity through Gyda’s highly personal touch. 

 A founding member of the experimental and groundbreaking band múm as a teenager in the late 1990s, Gyda later studied classical cello and improvisation in Reykjavik, St. Petersburg, and Basel. Known for her deeply personal and organic performances, she has worked with a varied group of artists across genres, performed concerts around the world, and composed music for films. She earned a double master’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik in Basel where her main teachers were cellist and composer Thomas Demenga and violist, composer, and improviser Walter Fähndrich.

Of the new album, Gyda says, “When the idea of Epicycle II came to me, it felt like it already existed. On the first Epicycle, I interpreted music by composers from the past. This time I wanted to collaborate with contemporary composers and musicians who have each created their own, unique musical language that doesn’t fall easily into any existing category. It became clear to me that I didn't have to look far to find exquisite musicians all around me and soon I had a list of people who I greatly admire – people who had all shaped me in some way as a musician. I also happened to know all of them since I started making music in my teens. Our world is interconnected and I wouldn’t be who I am without my relation to others, including the people that contributed to this record. This group of people is really a musical galaxy, where the connections are endless: From Kjartan producing Ólöf’s first record, which Daníel made some string arrangements for, to Úlfur touring as a bass player for Jónsi’s solo tour and María’s long collaboration with Jónsi and Kjartan ... or from Daníel conducting Anna’s compositions, as well as joining Sigur Rós for their orchestra concerts, to Kjartan and Skúli soon releasing a duo album, and much more.”

“Best Album - Open Catagory”
Icelandic Music Awards

Track List

1. Unfold - [6:11]

2. Safe To Love - [4:59]

3. Mikros - [3:13]

4. Morphogenesis - [6:45]

5. Liquidity - [6:42]

6. Air To Breath - [4:42]

7. Evol Lamina - [4:00]

8. Octo - [4:08]

Total time: 40:40
Release date: August 28th, 2020
UPC: 053479701220 - Digital/CD
053479701329 - Vinyl

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Quotes & Reviews

“This is a record that really blows my mind. I am really not a classical fan, but this record and the music she plays shows me there is a whole world of classical I don’t understand and want to know more about. Stunning.”
Waxamillion, Hello Music Club

“A subterranean hall of mirrors lures in the listener in this deeply affecting three-minute track. Gyda Valtysdottir’s cello takes on the guise of a modern-day Orpheus and the spectral sounds of the underworld as she layers her performance on top of two prerecorded tracks. As this protagonist cello line sighs, heaves and slackens, the taped parts add fragmented scratch tones, whispers and tremors, evoking terrain both alluring and treacherous.”
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times

“A Closer Listen 2020 top ten Modern Composition”
Richard Allen, A Closer Listen

“It’s just absolutely magical”
Kakofonie Of Si(gh)lens

“Considering the number of creators involved, Epicycle II has remarkable textural and emotional consistency, revealing the strength of Gyda’s interpretational hand. Tracks journey between overall feelings of safety, curiosity, wonder, loss, and dread, but… the curation of such a delectable color palette is accomplishment enough. “ - Tamzin Elliot, San Francisco Classical Voice

“Best Of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical: August 2020” - Peter Margasak, Bandcamp

“Shadowy, scratchy, and abundant in texture, “Mikros” is a world of its own, moody and dark, glacial and sensitive. Swelling in the low register of the cello, the strings sigh and glide across the fretboard, sending deep chills down my spine.” - Headphone Commute

“A dichotomy is often drawn between classical music that one might learn in school and popular music people listen to today for their enjoyment and entertainment. But Icelandic composer and multi-instrumentalist Gyda Valtysdottir seamlessly bridges the two, with compositions that surprise the listener by drawing from classical conventions while also experimenting with fresh new sounds… creat[ing] an atmosphere that is at once ancient and modern, familiar and novel, comforting and unnerving.” - Suzannah Weiss, Audiofemme

“…extremely strong and fascinating music. Epicycle II is an album you must not miss to get acquainted with, especially if you appreciate music that explores new terrain while exposing beautiful musical lines and great sound. The title as the album of the week is inevitable…” - Karl Erik Sylthe, Audiophile

“…the whole collection is suffused with her dark, sensual personality, creating a world unto itself.” - Jeremy Shatan, AnEarful