Bergur Anderson

'Bergur’s first solo album. Composed, developed, and recorded between the winter of 2019 and the winter of 2020; between Lithuania, Iceland, The Netherlands; in the field and in the studio; with the help of friends. For instance, with the Singing Club of Rotterdam — of which Bergur is one of the co-founders, members, and organizers — which runs as a bi- monthly-meeting, informal-group-of-people interested in the potentialities of voice and choral sound. The Singing Club appear in Night Time Transmissions as the collective- character, Flock, the Midnight Choir, as both the inspiration and actual voices behind it. Or, for instance, with the collaborative energy of Bergur’s long-time friend, fellow artist and wiz- kid, Gunnar Gunnsteinsson. The tracks on the album were conceived of, composed, and initially recorded by Bergur and then sent, for fine-tuning, magic layering, and additional arrangement/recording, to Gunnar in Reykjavik. Then back and forth.

And then there is the antennae... another conductor. Which makes a real-and-analogous appearance on the album too — characterized within The Night Time Healer — who suddenly emerges from the night sky right when tension begins to boil — who emits waves of soothing frequencies and melodic broadcasts to the anxious, spiraling tenants of Z-10; good vibes, who roll in.

Many voices make up this world and this album — and appropriately too. Ever increasingly, Bergur’s focus, and his resulting research, are wading into the deep and rich waters of polyphony and polyphonic storytelling. A quick search will quickly tell you that, “polyphony is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice...or a texture with one dominant voice.”

To tell a story polyphonically then, is to be beyond the singular and the dominant, to be inclusive and multifaceted. Multifaceted sound...I like the sounds’a that. I tune into them, they tune in to me, its evening time again... At sea level it is said that sound vibrations travel through air at approximately 331 meters (1,087 feet) per second. May the good vibrations of Night Time Transmissions get to you that quickly. Happy playing.' - Katrina Niebergal