ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF

INTERVIEW BY BY MARIKA ZORZI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIANLUCA GRASSELLI

When Anna Von Hausswolff visited the famous Sacro grotesque drama you find in the living rock. The calm songs on the “THE CALM SONGS ON THE ALBUM ACT AS Bosco [Sacred Grove] garden in the center of Italy, album act as the paths, leading the way between and towards the more THE PATHS, LEADING THE WAY BETWEEN AND she never forgot the experience. All intense and absurd scenery, a labyThoughts Fly, von Hausswolff’s new album, out now via Southern Lord, rinth of sounds. Yet, in the making of the music, it was important for me TOWARDS THE MORE INTENSE AND ABSURD radiates a melancholic beauty and is distinguished by fluid transitions to let the imagination wander and not to intellectualize it too much. SCENERY, A LABYRINTH OF SOUNDS.” of contrasting elements, much like The park inspires a free open mind, the sacred grove that inspired the and I wanted to honor that both in Hausswolff says. “Its location, near in sound and structure.” music. the making and in the presentation.” my home, and its tuning—it’s the biggest quarter comma, meantone-tem- All Thoughts Fly was recorded over “Sacro Bosco, with its mysterious To channel these feelings and tell pered organ in the world. The instru- seven days in January 2020. shimmer, really triggered my imag- the story of this place that inspired ment sounds like no other instrument ination, and once I was outside the her to write new music, von Hauss- I’ve ever heard. It has both an angel- “It was a very still and calm recordgate, it felt as if I never really left,” wolff embraced a solo instrumental ic, crystal-clear sound and a beauti- ing process,” von Hausswolff says. von Hausswolff says. mode. The entire record consists of fully ugly, discordant sound. You can “For the organ, we used eight microjust one instrument, the pipe organ, easily create interesting tensions by phones for close recordings of the The incredible location contains which represents absolute libera- just making very basic chords.” pipes, so you can hear the mechangrotesque, mythological sculptures tion of the imagination. ics of the instrument and the airflow, and buildings overgrown with vege- Von Hausswolff was pleasantly and we used two mics for the room tation, situated in a wooded valley “Ever since 2013, I've been thinking surprised during recording by the in case we wanted to steer away beneath the castle of Orsini. The about making an entire album only organ's ability to create beautiful from the body and into the room.” sculptures include fantastical ani- with pipe organ,” she says. “But, time pitching notes through its stops and mals, colossal figures, mythological wasn’t on my side. Due to COVID air supply system. Realizing an album in 2020 is not characters, grotesque heads, pseu- -19, I managed to find the time and easy with all that is going on in the do-Etruscan tombs, and fake ruins. solitude to make this album. I wrote “The final sound of the album is defi- world right now, and All Thoughts most of the parts in my home and nitely determined by the mechanics Fly is a uniquely beautiful story that “It’s a labyrinth of symbols,” von some at the church.” of this organ,” she explains. “The von Hausswolff hopes can help Hausswolff says. “The path be- process of creating was a combi- people set their minds free. tween the monuments is equally The organ on All Thoughts Fly is situ- nation of preparing pieces at home as important as the monuments ated in the Örgryte New Church, in and then adding texture and parts “I truly hope so. It helped me, so themselves because it presents a Gothenburg, Sweden, a replica of during the recording. Because I maybe it can help others,” she says. wild nature that overgrows the path, the Arp Schnitger organ in Germany. didn't have a meantone-tempered, “I wouldn’t make music if I didn’t stairs, and even the sculptures. It pipe organ or synth at home, I had think it has the power to change adds a contrast of stillness to the “I chose it for two reasons,” von to change the pieces radically, both things.” �� �� �� NEW NOISE