Name: The Current Inside
Brand: Marja Ahti

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

HG2004

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2020-05-22

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0617957552614

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Marja Ahti

Genre GB

Electronic

Label GB

Hallow Ground

HALLOW GROUND is a platform for Music and Art that leads to Visions. Established in Lucerne, Switzerland in 2013, they serve as publishers, hosts, and performers. With a commitment to showcasing innovative and boundary-pushing music, HALLOW GROUND has become a prominent force in the music industry. Their roster of *artists* includes some of the most exciting and experimental talents from around the world. Through their unique approach to curating and promoting music, HALLOW GROUND continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in both sound and art.
At HALLOW GROUND, they understand that music is not just about listening; it's about experiencing. They strive to create an immersive environment where *artists* can freely express themselves through their craft. By providing a platform for these visionary creators, HALLOW GROUND aims to inspire audiences with thought-provoking performances that challenge traditional notions of sound.
As both publishers and hosts, HALLOW GROUND takes pride in their ability to discover emerging talent while also supporting established *performers*. Their dedication to nurturing creativity has led them to collaborate with renowned artists across various genres. By fostering these connections between musicians and visual artists, HALLOW GROUND creates multi-dimensional experiences that engage all senses.

The Current Inside”, Marja Ahti's sophomore album for Hallow Ground, plays with the theme of currents - connecting and animating movements in the form of air, water and electricity. It approaches sound as a poetic medium, focusing both on the experience of sound as form and energy and on a loosely narrative arc, suggesting a riddle on the relations between the sounds. It implements alternative as well as intuitive tunings, analog and digital synthesis, recordings of sonorous spaces and vessels, electromagnetic fields transduced into audio, acoustic close-ups of elements in motion and other field recordings. Fluently connecting quite diverse sound sources, Ahti's music lingers in a zone between abstract sonorities and vaguely familiar acoustic environments. 

The first half of the album consists of ”The Altitudes”, a piece commissioned by Ina GRM for Présences Électronique and Sonic Acts. It was inspired by descriptions of the layers of Earth's atmosphere. Imagining a movement through layers of air, the piece unfolds with a slow intensity, interweaving concrete sounds and closely tuned electronic sonorities. Traversing the altitudes, a landscape of entangled elements, masses and currents emerges. The air around us has weight and it presses against everything it touches. As gravity pulls it to Earth, it is sensed as pressure. The rotation of the planet, the angle of the sun at any new moment sets the elements in motion in a chain reaction. 

The other side consists of four shorter pieces. ”The Currents” opens with a dance of trembling charged movements. ”Lost Lake” extracts resonant tones from a trail of close-up recordings of winter environments, while ”Fluctuating Streams” channels streaming air in different forms. The closing track, ”Sundial”, could be construed as the steady turning of the planetary angle towards the sun, unfolding through fragments of everyday activity against the backdrop of piercing, slowly twisting, suspended tone. 

Marja Ahti (b. 1981) is a musician and composer based in Turku, Finland. Originally from Sweden, Ahti has been a part of the Finnish experimental music scene for more than ten years in different constellations. She is currently active in the duo Ahti &amp; Ahti with her partner and as a member of the Himera artist/organizer collective. Her critically acclaimed 2019 solo debut, Vegetal Negatives, explored a new formal language and sonic palette inspired by a short text by René Daumal. 

The Current Inside

Music GB