Icelandic, now Copenhagen-based composer and double bassist Bára Gísladóttir‘s work is based on thoughts regarding the concept of sound as a living being. Her solo albums Hīber (which she will perform at NEXT) and Mass for some showcase her primary instrument in unusual positions; rumbling, distorted, winding, at times almost harsh, the sounds of the double bass twisting and turning. Similarly to instrumentalist contemporaries like Leila Bordreuil (cello) or Patrick Shiroishi (various wind instruments), Gísladóttir blurs the line between contemporary composition, sound art and experimental music. These are sounds miles beyond what you imagine when someone says “double bass”.

Part of NOISS (Norway–Iceland–Slovakia): New Musics for New Audiences project.