Introducing Hrafnamynd
A meditation on memory and thought
Dear readers,
I have a new album on the way. It’s called Hrafnamynd (roughly translates to “Raven Image” in Icelandic ) and will come out on July 11th through Balmat. Hrafnamynd is also the title of my friend Edward Pack Davee’s most recent film. The music on this release is a selection of songs that I wrote for its soundtrack. Two songs, “Early Memories” and “The Return to Iceland” can be heard now. This album will be on vinyl with a limited edition option in orange and also in standard black. It can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp and a wide variety of online and physical record stores around the world.
How this project came into being
Edward Pack Davee and I have been friends for years, but we really started to get to know one another better after I hired him to make music videos for my songs “Woodland Encounter” and “The Culmination Of.” For those projects we got to spend a lot of time together hiking in various locations around the Pacific Northwest with his camera, very nice lenses, and tripod. Keeping quiet, hidden, and vigilant we searched for wildlife, good light on the trees, meadows, lakes, rivers, and skies.
Although we work in different areas of art, our styles compliment one another. We both tend toward slow and careful pacing with a focus on emotions, introspective reflections on life and the landscapes around us. For this reason, I knew that I could trust Edward to create fitting videos for my music. We saw so many beautiful and unexpected things on our filming days, but I was moved to tears once I saw how magnificent and poetic it all became through his artistic process. His cinematography, editing, and color correction brought my inner vision to life.
A few months after working on those music videos, Edward surprised me with an invitation to work on the soundtrack for his new feature length film, Hrafnamynd. I enthusiastically said yes. I had always wanted to score a film, and I knew that his filmmaking style would be gratifying to compose for.
In the words of the Portland Panorama Festival organizers where the film premiered:
“Hrafnamynd is a poetic, raven guided tour of memory and location. Upon returning to Iceland as an adult, the filmmaker documents the Icelandic raven while along the way feeling an overwhelming sense of familiarity through the hundreds of beautiful Ektachrome slides from the early 70's that his father took. As he continues documenting ravens, poring through family slides, and interviewing family about their time there, the filmmaker finds himself on a journey of self discovery and ponders the nature of memories and myth. Hrafnamynd is an unconventional, dream-like feature documentary taking us through the psychology of memory, myth, family bonds, and symbology.”
When Edward sent me the rough cut of the film, he used placeholder music to help give me an idea of the emotion and energy that he was hoping to achieve for each scene. For many of the scenes, Edward used music from my albums as temporary tracks. This told me that he trusted my work and style and therefore I should just trust my intuition with how to proceed. I wanted to make sure that everything that I made was a direct reflection of what was happening on screen and works as a musical mirror to its emotion and energy so that viewers can psychologically lock into the film. This process took my composing to unexpected places. It felt like being led by a strange cat or raven that had something important to show me. I found that this approach made the music so much more dynamic than my usual style. I really enjoyed being influenced by the action and dialog on the screen. I made sure to handle this project with the utmost care because this is about my friend’s life and family, and an exploration of the experiences that made him an artist and filmmaker.
Another aspect to this project is the splendor and wonder of Iceland itself. I had the opportunity to visit Iceland for a week in 2023. While there, I played a show at Extreme Chill Festival and met many friendly and talented Icelanders. I also got to collect field recordings there that I used in the film. It's a fascinating place and culture that easily captures the hearts and imaginations of anyone who visits. Whether you spend your time in the city immersed in its impressive arts scene, or venture out into the wilderness to behold its wondrous landscape, it will leave a lasting impression. My album, Hrafnamynd is also a love letter to Iceland itself.
The film is not yet released to the wider world, but there have been a couple of screenings at theaters with more to come (see dates below). It’s been fascinating to hear people’s impressions of the film after they’ve watched it. Many have shared how the film has stimulated thought about their own childhood memories and the origins of their interests and personalities. Some have also mentioned that the music helped them to access their subconscious mind.
The music on this album was almost entirely made using my UDO Super 6 which has a rich, dynamic, and textured character. It’s a synth well suited for minimalist compositions where subtly and sensitivity are needed. It worked well alongside the other sound elements in the film such as dialog and environmental noises. I used its binaural feature liberally to create light movement in the stereo field which makes the music feel enveloping and alive. My acoustic guitar also makes an appearance on the song, “Krummi’s Theme”.
After the upcoming theatrical screenings, the film will be available to stream online. Until then, here’s a teaser. The music in this clip is on the album and is called “Early Memories”.
I also did the sound design and sound mixing for the film. Below is a sample of some of the most meticulous sound design moments. In these scenes, there was no location sound for me to work with. I had to painstakingly recreate what these environments, even some slow motion ones, would realistically sound like. It was one of the most challenging things that I have ever done in my sound practice, but I am very proud of how it came out. I grew a lot from this project and am grateful for the opportunity to work with Edward on his beautiful film.
I plan to write more about the experience of working on the film and the music that I made for it. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or would be interested in hearing about something specific. Thanks for reading!
-Patricia Wolf
Tour dates (more to be announced soon):
July 8 - Eugene, OR at Art House - Hrafnamynd film screening + live performance
July 9 - Portland, OR at Holocene - Hrafnamynd film screening + live performance
July 11 - Corvallis, OR at Darkside Cinema - Hrafnamynd film screening only
July 12 - The Dalles, OR - at The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center - Hrafnamynd film screening + live performance (please note - a new date will be announced soon, the show had to be postponed due to fire damage from the Rowena fire)
September 3 - Reykjavík, Iceland - Extreme Chill Festival- Hrafnamynd film screening + live performance *check out the full festival lineup!
September 8 - Berlin, Germany - silent green - supporting loscil
September 16 - London, England at Rich Mix supporting loscil. This show is presented by Baba Yaga’s Hut. Live performance only (no Hrafnamynd screening)
oh this is very interesting and the film looks stunning. hoping to see and hear it some day.