Heraclitus in Iceland
NOW AVAILABLE AS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD & LTD EDITION CD-R https://gailpriest.bandcamp.com/album/heraclitus-in-iceland
Heraclitus in Iceland is a series of compositions and videos reflecting on continuity and temporality in relation to being a "visitor" in a place.
In my first few weeks in-residence I was struck by the endless flows of water and was often ruminating on the well-known adage: "you cannot step twice into the same river." Discovering that this orginated with the ancient Greek philospher Heraclitus (The Obscure, 535-475BC), I then sought out some more interesting propositions by him that felt relevant to my time here — ideas about the continuum of existence, harmony & disonnance in the universe, and the role of our senses to make sense of the world.
These compositions, made from digitally manipulated field recordings and vocal and instrumental improvisations, aim to evoke internal and external atmospheres of my time here as a visitor. In some ways postmodernity means every place feels strangely familar but, in other ways this small town of 800 people felt oblique and forever unknowable, as if I were in fact Heraclitus, direct from 500 BC, mysteriously materialising in far Northern Iceland.
Tracks can be accessed from the map above or images below
Heraclitus in Iceland
"as above so below"
"souls take their spirit from the waters"
"it is in changing that
things find repose"
"the hidden harmony is better than the obvious"
"people do not understand how that which is at variance with itself agrees with itself"
"you cannot step twice into the same river"
Bonus tracks: Heraclitus (in Akureyri)
"even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the universe"
in a drone a dream
"in the circumference of the circle the beginning and the end are common"
"there is a harmony in the bending back, as in the cases of the bow and the lyre"