We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Minnesm​ä​rke

by Mats Erlandsson

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

      75 SEK  or more

     

1.
Vilja 19:08
2.
Slakt 22:03

about

This album was composed and recorded in response to a commission by The Non-existent Center, an arts organisation based in the former iron ore mine Ställbergs Gruva. The foundational elements of the piece were conceptualized while attending an artists residency in Ställberg during the month of June 2019.

The region where Ställbergs Gruva is situated, Bergslagen, is forever tied to the industrial and political history of Sweden. Mining operations have been active in the area since the dark ages until the late 20th century. In the industrialized age iron ore was one of the country’s largest exports and this made the mining industry an integral part of the socialdemocratic welfare state during the expansive post-WWII years. In conjunction with the socialdemocratic project losing momentum and the rise of neoliberalism as the reigning political idea in later part of the 20th century the mines closed since they were not in a position to remain profitable and the community lost its main source of employment, and thus, its relative prosperity. After being unused for more than three decades the buildings that had previously housed the industry re-opened in 2012 as a center for culture and critical thought.

From a personal standpoint the experience of working as a musician at the mine has been colored by my personal history in relation to the geographical area in question. Some background is necessary to understand why this was the case: my maternal grandfather was born in a village about 30 kilometers from Ställberg in 1919. Their lives were inextricably tied up with the developments of the region, shaped by the extraction of the ore and the heating process employed to refine it. One of his mother’s siblings even worked in Ställberg during the 1920s. My grandfather’s first job away from home was working as a sort of runner in a forge at the age of 14, again tied up in the ongoing industrial development that had the paradoxical role of serving as both oppressor and liberator of the working class at the time. This weird biographical twist made working in Ställberg from the point of view of a musician some 100 years later a somewhat surreal experience. Being in that environment makes you view time from the side - since the place remains the same it accentuates the deep chasm that separates my perspective from those of my relatives while at the same time providing a form of intimacy with them. Because of all of this, a sense of dislocation and dissociation prevails.

This record was released on vinyl by Hallow Ground in October 2020.

credits

released October 30, 2020

Hilary Jeffery - Trombone, Tuba
Gaianeh Pilossian - Violin
Yair Elazar Glotman - Double Bass
Mats Erlandsson - Everything Else
Mastering by Andreas Lupo Lubich
Artwork by Marijn Degenaar

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mats Erlandsson Stockholm, Sweden

As a composer, musician and sound artist, Mats Erlandsson is part of the vibrantly reemerging field of drone music in Stockholm, Sweden, and is associated with practices characterized by the extensive use of sustained sound.

contact / help

Contact Mats Erlandsson

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Mats Erlandsson, you may also like: