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.

Hiko I

from Hiko by Suss Müsik

/

  • Streaming + Download

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

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

The word "hiko" is one of several terms used by Eskimos to describe ice. According to the theory of linguistic relativity, a language's structure is tightly bound to the culture in which it is spoken. Eskimo languages are polysynthetic, meaning that morphemes are invented organically through everyday usage: a suffix added here, a prefix deleted there.

Glaciers undergo a similar process of fissure and restoration. During winter, enormous sheets of polar ice laboriously drift towards the sea. These giants thaw in summer, breaking into chunks to be later reconstituted into the frozen bulk. Increasingly warmer global temperatures have created what scientists call "ice mélanges" where glacial ice becomes granular and slushy, slowing movement and inhibiting the regeneration process.

For these two works composed as a suite, Suss Müsik sought to represent varying textures of glacial ice using sound. The first movement of Hiko I explores the viscous, wintry state of glaciers traveling at the speed of molasses. The second movement of Hiko I represents the thawing and breaking of glacial ice during summer.

Hiko I is composed for cello, violin, Moog synthesizer, ice cubes, flute, organ and piano. The echoey ice-clink harmonics heard at the end of the piece are the result of the Moog effects processor filtering the sound of ice cubes being cracked.

For Hiko II, larger fragments are broken and diffused to depict the ice mélange as a state of purgatory. The smallest components are constantly in motion, yet there is no reconstructive outcome to conclude the piece.

Hiko II is composed for violin, viola, cello, vibraphone, vocals, mellotron, piano, tuba, trombone, Moog synthesizer and ice cubes. The sampled ice cubes were clipped and sequenced to resemble a percussion instrument played with mallets.

Music is a form of language, and the sound of ice hitting glass is inherently percussive. Both of these pieces use the live sound of ice cubes being dropped into a glass tumbler. (It's surprisingly difficult to keep accurate time with melting ice — the cubes get slippery after a while).

Hiko I and Hiko II were originally composed and submitted as part of the Disquiet Junto global collective of weekly music projects. More information at disquiet.com/2012/01/27/the-disquiet-junto/

credits

from Hiko, released May 30, 2018

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Suss Müsik image

Suss Müsik

Suss Müsik creates post-classical ambient minimalism for crepuscular airports, using handmade electroacoustic instrumentation that frequently malfunctions.

contact / help

Contact Suss Müsik

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Suss Müsik, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now