Astralseid: Shamanic Love

Digital Album, released 16. November 2020.

Three of these tracks have been on long journeys. The oldest of them is Awakening, the basis of the tune was made back in 2016, but has been burried in a dusty archive until it was picked up again in the year of surprises, 2020. Back then, in 2016, it was inspired by a series of meditations and drum-journeys that started the radical changes towards living my life long dreams. Two years later I moved to live in the woods, off-grid, finally close to nature and my inner self.

The very first track we created, that sparked the whole Astralseid project, was Skydance. It was created through improvisations and playing around with midi sounds and beats. Just as the track was finished we were heading from the studio and I put the computer in a plastic bag, with a can of beer. When we got home the computer was swimming in beer, a thorn had made a tiny hole in the can. Luckily we managed to salvage both the computer and our new track. A few days later we released the song as a demo on Bancdamp. This was back in 2018. Shortly after we laid the foundations of Shadow Love, a track that took us close to two years to finish. It went through several stages and variations until it became what you hear.

Liberty is a tribute to trance, as a state of mind as well as a music genre, but also the fantastic instrument and spiritual tool: The mouth harp. The kick drum and many of the sounds are extracted from its vibrations. The mouth harp is a very entrancing instrument, specially to play it. Your breath is vital to the sound quality and volume, so to play for longer periods, you need to learn how to breath deeply. Breath is also vital to many meditation techniques. On top of that you have the drone sound, the overtones and the beat going. All of it directly sendt to your ears through your own jaw and scull. This song was born a bit after the other three. We were actually ready to release an EP with only three songs, but once we heard what Liberty could become, we delayed it all to get it on board. This gave the whole album completeness, and the time needed to call it an album.

• Gustav Holberg: Vocal, synth, mouth harp, melodies.
• Rúnahild: Vocal, synth, melodies.
• All songs recorded and mixed by Gustav Holberg and Rúnahild.
• Mastered by Gustav Holberg.
• Album artwork by Gustav Holberg and Tore Holberg.
• Produced by Astral Synergy Productions.