Kit Grill – Andøya (Primary Colours) – A new album from London-based musician and composer Kit Grill, a new album called Andøya, a rather beautifully calm album inspired by a solo residency on the Norwegian island of the same name, “a profoundly dramatic territory situated in the Vesterålen archipelago, inside the Arctic Circle”. And you are thinking that, thinking before reading the text that comes by way of some kind of not really needed explanation; you are thinking about evocative slow movement, of vast landscapes, of isolation, of cold warmth, of things imposing, of slow movement, of ambient drone, of minimalism and the musical laws of experimentalism that you think you have pegged until White Fields quietly dramatically, beautifully changes the whole way of thinking. This is properly modern classical music, Kit Grill does indeed capture the “environmental essence of a remarkable region; an isolated Nordic landscape of small coastline villages, raw peatlands and sublime mountain ranges”.
Music composed as a result of things drawn from his experience on solitary excursions around the island – hiking, exploring, and encountering the locals – Andøya is warmly stark, quietly stirring exploration of acoustic phenomena, seclusion in nature, and the expressive power of unique landscapes. it feels calm, it doesn’t feel like a wild island,it feels like the land rather the the surrounding sea. We’re told that for Grill, the trip entailed a surreal day-night cycle, and his experience has had far-reaching, existential implications, both for his practice and his perspective:
“On the 8th January 2025 I travelled to the Norwegian island of Andøya, in the Arctic Circle for a 3 week solo residency. Surrounded by sea, snow, and silence, I lived on my own and travelled around the island documenting where I went. The sun only rose above the horizon on the third week. At 10am, the background light of the sun beneath the horizon would light the day. In the 4 hour window of light, before darkness at 2pm I would take my car, hike into the mountains, explore the wilderness, meet locals and make the most of the day. It was a challenging yet profound experience that changed the way I thought about sound, solitude, and what it means to be alone in nature.”
With his time on Andøya contributing to a significant paradigm shift, Grill subsequently channelled these impressions into his work, aiming to mirror a distinct climate and topography, while also encapsulating his emotional response to the realities of the experience:
“After returning, I spent eight months creating a body of music inspired by that time – a work of ambient, modern classical and experimental music capturing the vastness and unpredictability of the Arctic landscape. This material moves through the sensory extremes of that environment: ice cracking, storms forming and fading, the rumble of tectonic plates, waves crashing, harsh winds, trudging through snow, and the sharpness of freezing air. The album aims to reflect both the landscape itself and the shifting emotions that came with living in isolation and the Arctic environment. The music and photography serve as a recorded diary of my time there, documenting the experience day by day.”
Twelve tracks, twelve pieces of warm music that feel very much like one whole thing, one unifying narrative. Andøya feels both big and small, both vast and quietly intimate; panoramic, soulful, vivid, smooth, poignant, elegant, considered, considerate, inviting, some of it feels like Norman Ackroyd’s art (less birds though). Ascending is inviting, Metamorphosis is a gentle change at just the right point in an album that stands out from the crowded landscape of similar works. White Fields really is something very special, a simple, minimal almost otherly and leading, the whole album is a rather beautifully inviting minimalist piece of less is more, crafted, emotionally restrained, expressive, quietly recommended (although maybe the album artwork could have been a little bit more thought about, the music feels like it deserves more).
Further reading
THE ORGAN 