Melatonin

Private Imperfections #01: "Waves of Air and Seasons through Me"

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In the electro acoustic solo project Melatonin, Jardardottir blends her collection of musical styles and vocal expressions and techniques into one strong essence where improvisation and creative composition is the core idiom.

tracks

: 1 Fantasy
: 2 Reflection
: 3 Spirit

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"Maria Jardardottir’s electro acoustic solo project, Melatonin, is founded on exploring her own voice as the only sound source. In Melatonin, Jardardottir blends her collection of musical styles and vocal expressions and techniques into one strong essence where improvisation and creative composition is the core idiom; human, earthbound and elusive. Maria Jardardottir – voice and electronics."

Brief biography:

Born in Oslo, Norway, in 1979, Maria Jardardottir is a performing and composing voice musician educated with a Bachelor and Master Degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music currently working free lance with international engagements. Through her education and in her work she has kept a strong focus on improvisation and extended voice techniques, Indian Classical music, world music and electro acoustic performance and composition.

For more resources on Maria and her work please visit:
http://www.maria-jardardottir.com
You can also get interactive with Maria on:
http://www.myspace.com/mariajardardottir

The CD series "Private Imperfections":

"Private Imperfections is an artistically innovative music CD series proposed to be promoted under the slogan "Art Heals" with specific aims at presenting the product as an alternative aid for people with difficulties falling asleep or sleeping or in other ways entering and sustaining a resting or focused state of being. Additionally the series is wished-for to be promoted towards pregnant women and/or parents with very young babies for therapeutic calming and meditative aid.

This therapeutic nature is especially due to the music’s intentional ability to break away from stating any sense of time (- time pressure being one of the main issues causing destructive, unhealthy tensions in man) and establishing a mental and emotional space which is fully and forcefully present. If you have difficulties falling asleep or in other ways entering a resting, focused state of being it is highly recommendable to utilize this music as an aid for reaching through to your inner calmness and stillness and thus invigorate and reload your vital resources.

The music of this series is strongly influenced by the Indian concept of raga in terms of time and space and form, but in contents the musical components are very contemporary, free and open and deriving from elements found in diverse musical genres - as is the all over expression of Melatonin as a music concept. It is important for Jardardottir as an artist to express that there hence are no artistic compromises made or needed to accommodate the health aspect of the series, the product is musically and health-wise entirely organic and the artistic aims for each individual piece and CD are fully seen to."

“ - Melatonin promotes restful and peaceful sleep,
being it slumbering or deep. - “

Melatonin dearly supports Norges Blindeforbund (The Norwegian Foundation for Blind and Seeing Disabled) by donating 5% of all CD sales income to the foundation. Listening is a treasure for those who struggle to see.

Maria. J. on being a musician with spread roots:

"When it comes to musical expression and style I see myself as a collector with spread roots. I listen to music of all kinds from all over the world, and what I find and what I am drawn towards I bring with me into my own idiom. My experience of Melatonin is that it works as a project wherein I am allowed to do absolutely anything. There are no set borders or rules to pay attention to, only intuition and impulses to follow and trace. And what consequently matters is to make the chosen ideas work. As a musician (and as a human being) I am constantly and actively in progress and in a flow of self examination. Melatonin is a project where my development becomes very apparent, at least to me, because there are no limits or fixed directions of where I want or intend the musical creation Melatonin to go. Whilst I in other ensembles and constellations often may find there to be more given path-ways wherein the musicians involved consciously or unconsciously may lead the musical product. I guess this is the natural consequence of it being a solo project where the creator behind it has a never ending hunger for exploration and with that unpredictable growth."

Collaboration:

Maria regularly works with other musicians as well as artists of other directions such as sound art, dance/choreography, film/animation, theatre, shadow puppetry, poets and multimedia artists. She is furthermore a keen member of LIMA - Leeds Improvised Music Association (http://www.limaonline.org.uk) - an association consisting of a cluster of diverse, resourceful and explorative musicians based in and around Leeds in England who put on and promote their own music locally and internationally.

Maria. J. on idea development and improvisation:

"A point that I have worked very much on through the last couple of years (and more and more intensively so) is to make my (immediate) ideas work, regardless of where they are coming from or what they are bringing. Almost to force them to work no matter what. (I will leave it up to each individual listener to make their opinion on if I have succeeded or not). I believe this is very important when you are moving within the nature of improvised and creatively composed music. That is as I see it one of the most difficult problems to solve when improvising, and what it implicates is never giving up on your idea, but to really trace it, search within it and reveal it as best you can within the context or framework you are developing it in."

Feedback:

At the time Jardardottir internationally receives immensely positive and encouraging feedback on Melatonin, which perhaps is the project wherein the entirety of her musical expression is most evident. The project has been featured on BBC radio 3’s program Jazz on 3 and recommended by the Belgian new music organization (K-RAA-K)3 in their magazine Ruis alongside names like Massive Attack, Chris Watson and Velvet Underground. Melatonin was commissioned for several performances for experimental music collectives and improvised music festivals throughout 2005.

Education and development:

During the year 2004-2005 the project Melatonin was brought in as the main project of Maria Jardardottir's Master Degree study in advanced performance (commencing the autumn 2004 and running for 13 months). Maria graduated in October 2005 with a high distinction for her work on this solo project along with her work on the duo project Curious Voice Duo.

Through the years 2004 – 2006 a huge number of pieces have been created and recorded as part of Maria’s eager work with Melatonin. A selection of pieces from this production will form the CD series "Intimate Imperfections - Compilation of work and research" which will be a series of three CDs containing work and research carried out as part of one entire project running through 2004, 2005 and 2006. The series is currently being sound treated and will be released as a whole; however release date is still not set. "Intimate Imperfections - Compilation of work and research" will be available here at CDbaby when released.

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author: CD Baby
Starting from a compositional, philosophical kernel that prizes improvisation and creative manipulation, Jardardottir explores electro-acoustic realms where classical training meets digital technology, experimenting with vocal styles and techniques, reverb and sound effects to create stunning and haunting tapestries. Her approaches and concepts are both penetrating and atmospheric, chilling and naked and raw but one simply cannot stop listening. Not only does she turn over every stone in the vocal range but she also explores inhales and exhales, sighs and raspy whispers to capture a surprising range of emotion and color. This is one experimental album we won't soon forget.