We are proud to present ‘The Miners’ Hymns’, the newest release of Jóhann Jóhannsson, one of the most brilliant Icelandic musician and composer of today. Originally presented as a live performance at Durham Cathedral over two nights in July 2010, ‘The Miners’ Hymns’ album is the result of a collaboration between Jóhann and highly regarded American experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison.
Jóhann Jóhannsson was born in Iceland but currently resides in Copenhagen, Denmark. His work frequently combines electronics with classical orchestrations. His work bears the influence of minimalism, drone music, baroque music and electro-acoustic music and Jóhann’s background in Iceland’s flourishing independent music scene also informs his work. He released his first solo record Englabörn in 2002 on the well respected British label Touch on which he combined the influence of Erik Satie, Bernard Herrmann, Purcell, Moondog and the electronic music of labels like Mille Plateaux and Mego. Later works include Virthulegu Forsetar (2004), scored for a brass ensemble, electronic drones and percussion, and the orchestral albums Fordlandia (2008) and IBM 1401 - A User's Manual (2006), a composition which uses sounds produced from the electromagnetic emissions of the old IBM 1401 mainframe computers.
Jóhann is founding member of Kitchen Motors - an art organization that curated events, commissioned works and released records and has been an influential part of the art and music scenes in Iceland for the last 10 years. Members of múm, Sigur Ros, Aniima and many others were all affiliated with Kitchen Motors and participated in their projects. Jóhann´s many side projects include the all-analog Apparat Organ Quartet and the electronic “supergroup” Evil Madness.