Keystone Over Ice, by Jay Auborn

Keystone Over Ice

by Jay Auborn

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1.	Camera Trap 02:39	buy track
2.	Anthem Lament 02:24	buy track
3.	Keystone Over Ice 04:12	buy track
4.	Brooding Breath 05:12	buy track

about

Keystone Over Ice was written in response to an article about the return of Wolves to the Åland islands in 2017. Despite their protected EU status these Wolves were soon hunted and killed. The music ranges from icy textural landscapes to snarling pulsing rhythms in an attempt to evoke something raw, earthy and untamed. Written and performed by Jay Auborn on a Cello digitally augmented to extend its pitch range and alter its timbre.

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Åland is an archipelago between Finland and Sweden. In 2017 the Baltic sea had frozen more than usual, allowing islanders to drive across thin ice to the mainland. Travelling in the other direction, Wolves were spotted returning to a home not inhabited since 1883 when the last native Wolf was killed there. Today's EU protected status for Wolves did little to subvert folklore fear and prevent these newly arrived Eurasian Wolves from being hunted and killed by islanders exercising traditional nation values of hunting and farming.

Set against the backdrop of Brexit, a newspaper article chronicling the Wolves return to Åland seemed to encapsulate the sense of bewilderment myself and my brother - the filmmaker Joe Auborn - felt at the time. A large proportion of the UK, our home country, had aligned itself, under false pretences, with absurd nationalistic ideas. The Wolves in the article became symbolic of our need to connect with something beyond political.

Joe Auborn travelled to Åland to film an artistic impression of the relationship between the inhabitants of Åland and the newly arrived population of Wolves. I explored these themes sonically by using the Cello, an instrument which I had not played before.

Using digital processing, I augmented the Cello in real time, extending its note range and exaggerating its harmonic structure. The instrument felt untamed in my hands; I was outside of my comfort zone and explored a rawer sonic expression than a traditional musical approach. The notes I used to base the music on were selected using chance techniques from Åland’s national anthem "Ålänningens sång". Using chance was a further attempt to side step rationalism and connect with something outside of my psyche, and perhaps animalistic.

credits

released February 23, 2024

Music written and performed by Jay Auborn.
Produced by Noah Feasey Kemp and Jay Auborn.
Additional mixing by Ben Kashani.
Additional editing Jodie Norvel + Alexandria Madsen.
Mastered by James Trevascus

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Jay Auborn Bristol, UK

Jay Auborn is a British musician, record producer and sound artist.

jayauborn.com

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