Come celebrate the fourth proto-langspil track release and learn about Egill’s pseudo instruments.

About the track release: https://iil.is/news/free_again

Egill Sæbjörnsson

Egill Sæbjörnsson is a visual artist that is also known for his music, both as a musician, composer and as an explorer in the field of music. His artistic projects have included videos of talking rocks, enlivening everyday cleaning supplies with psychedelic light projections and creating “pseudo instruments” out of linen bags - which he will present at the Open Lab.

He has often collaborated with his friends from S.L.Á.T.U.R. such as Áki Ásgeirsson, Magnús Jensson and Halldór Úlfarsson. His music got know when the album Tonk of the lawn came out on BadTaste Smekkleysa Records in the year 2000. On that album is the song I love you so that is well known in Iceland and has reached international airplay. He has since then released a few albums, but the last one, Moonlove, was released on The Vinyl Factory London, but the release concert was held at HAU Theatre Berlin the same year. In his art installations with video projections and sound he often create sculptures that are at the same time: non-human performers, musical instruments, and the musical score at the same time.

Free Again - Egill Sæbjörnsson

About the pseudo instruments:

I have been playing around with the concept of pseudo instruments, in traditional instruments, say a guitar, you have a body that amplifies the sound that comes from the strings and you need an agent, in this case the fingers and with that you make the sound. At a concert you see the sound being made and at the same time receive the experience of the music.

What are pseudo instruments?

… a synesthetic perception. For the longest time, in the musical world, people wanted to separate the two; their idea being that people should close their eyes and listen to the music—that was the only way to fully grasp the real har-mony. But in truth, all the other senses affect your perception and enhance the experience. These factors are, for instance, the performance space or the social context. The visual is second only to the sound itself.

The hand that strikes the cord is much like the balls in the video. They look like they are striking the boxes, but in fact they are not, hence the usage of pseudo, as a pseudo-instrument looks like it’s making the sound when in truth it is not. The same applies to synthesizers.

From an interview with Reykjavik Grapevine: https://grapevine.is/mag/interview/2012/08/08/working-on-digital-boundary-lines/

Egill Sæbjörnsson