Artist Myrkur unfolds the next chapter in her personal mythology of Amalie Bruun, which is setting a new course for the composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Marked by the birth of her child and a means of making sense of the storm of emotions in that wake, Myrkur’s upcoming album Spine charts a new course for Bruun through the most turbulent period of her life to new territories beyond, free from genre constraints and giving rise to a new range of emotional and sonic contours.
Myrkur reunited with producer Randall Dunn in Sigur Rós’s Icelandic Sundlaugin studio to negotiate the contrast between the deepest human connection of mother and child and an increasingly disconnected alienating world from pandemic restrictions to the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
Bruun’s pristine clear vocals a hyper-sensitive barometer, finely tuned to states where bliss, anxiety, grief, intimacy and psychic wanderlust co-exist, weaving wide-ranging traces of the artist’s musical background into rapt and tantalising new forms.
Spine’s lead single, “Like Humans” is a blend of lush, airy textures and apprehension-inducing, pounding undertow, where Bruun’s voice floats over the top as if from another dimension.
In the press release Myrkur talks about what inspired her to write “Like Humans.”
“When I wrote Like Humans I felt very disconnected and isolated from the human race. The lack of touch and being in the first few years of motherhood forced me to become human in a way I never thought I would. Going through all of these changes at once made me desperately want to feel a connection with the earth and humans. Writing and recording this album helped me heal and succeed with that dream.”
Spine is a title with a host of potent connotations: growth, strength, defiance, a core of our being, and flexibility. It’s what holds a human up, and allows us to rebuild. It’s an album that encompasses all these traits which is an act of rebirth that balances our most euphoric and our darkest moments.
The album sees its release October 20 via Relapse Records on CD, Vinyl and across all digital retailers worldwide. For more details on variants and deluxe edition pressings, including a baby pink version for the “Ten Bands, One Cause” Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign go here.
Spine Tracklist
- Balfaerd
- Like Humans
- Mothlike
- My Blood Is Gold
- Spine
- Valkyriernes Sang
- Blazing Sky
- Devil in the detail
- Menneskebarn
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat