Timmy Linetsky

Anna Thorvalsdottir / Rhizoma / 2011

Abstract/experimental drone classical music that would make John Cage proud! Anna Thorvaldsdottir creates sonic landscapes that are both beautiful and unsettling using prepared piano and epic orchestral arrangements. Sounds like the whole San Francisco Philharmonic took LSD and recorded the results. Mostly prepared piano experiments with some orchestral pieces. Definitely not for the faint of heart or the closed-minded.

FCC clean

Recommended Tracks: 1, 4, 7

1. 8:03 Screeching violins with fluttering flutes followed by horns and twinkling piano. Very heavy and dramatic. A sense of falling/drifting through a landscape of sound.

2. 3:58 Anna screwing around with a prepared piano. Begins with a low rumbling followed by some screeching piano strings and then back to low to finish of the track. Creepy.

3. 2:00 More prepared piano antics coupled with some lone plucks on the higher strings. Sounds like someone is running their fingernails on a chalk board.


4. 17:25 This one’s a more orchestral piece similar to Track 1. Beautiful strings with harp and some oboe. Background music for a psychological horror film. Track builds up to a climax around 7:30 and then to a chiller second half.

5. 3:50 Booming bass frequencies with what sounds like a piano being sawed in half.

6. 2:40 Continuation of track 5, although more intense.

7. 19:32 Begins with the usual string screeching with violins yelping out random notes. Awesome percussion comes in around 4:00 and then back to violins droning and yelping for the rest of the track.

8. 1:50 A short prepared piano experiment to finish off the album. See Tracks 2 and 3.