Hekla - Turnar

A Closer Listen

Turnar may contain glimmers of sunlight, but it is not a daylight album; this is music for the depths of night and the soul, music of desolation and heartfelt prayer, music for long winters yearning for spring.  Partially recorded in a medieval castle tower, the album sounds like a watchperson of the night, scanning for enemies while waiting for the dawn.

This is the third album for the Reykjavik theremin magician Hekla and her first since 2022’s Xiuxxiuejar. Turnar also includes cello, voice and the church organ of Kristján Hrannar, which lends the set an immediate spiritual depth. Even the track titles seem like a liturgy of the hours, from “Inni” and “Kyrrð” (“Inside” and “Quiet”) to “Í Ösku og Eldi” (“In Ashes and Fire”).  In the most personal sense, Turnar is the soundtrack to a supplicant wrestling with God; in the most cinematic sense, it might serve as an alternate score to “The Long Night,” the dark-lensed episode from Game of Thrones‘ final season.

Hekla’s greatest triumph is her continued redefinition of the theremin.  Long relegated to kitschy sci-fi films and Halloween specials, this versatile instrument has never quite reached its potential. By repositioning the theremin as the lead instrument within the orchestra, Hekla challenges prior assumptions and paves a path for its future use.  And while the theremin will always sound ghostly, as it does in the savage, lava drone of “In Ashes and Fire,” a ghost is also a spiritual creature: often seen as foreboding, and yet occasionally divine.  In lead single “Var,” she demonstrates that vocals can accompany the theremin as well as they can other instruments; the timbre may be dark, but her voice and notes soar above the fray.

The drama peaks in the penultimate piece.  “Gráminn” launches with a near-roar and introduces a pounding drum, worthy of Cold Meat Industries.  A clash of angel armies, sword upon sword and shield upon shield, reverberates in monstrous chords upon the earth.  After this dark night of the soul, this spiritual struggle with one’s self, the Devil or God, one is left to pick up the pieces, to soldier on as the sun rises and the last tendrils of night fade into the earth.  (Richard Allen)