about the record

The project was created over two years in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland and in Berlin, Germany, and is an evolving conversation between Döring’s improvisation on acoustic instruments such as clarinet and saxophones, and Korabiewski’s electronic live treatment and composition with Döring’s sounds. A third compositional element is contributed by the particular ambiences of the spaces in which the recordings took place, as Korabiewski and Döring came together to record at sites with personal and acoustic resonance, from Döring’s apartment in Berlin to an abandoned herring factory by the sea in east Iceland.

Musically Komplex moves seamlessly between ethereal ambient refrains, to a somber, churning low end, to a hypnotic looping reverie that slowly disintegrates as if under the burr and scratch of a gramophone needle. Melodic elements occasionally distort and peak into noise, lending the simplicity of solo instrumental improvisation an atmospheric density, and revealing the material and spiritual limits of the fragile musical moments around which the album circles. The track titles, made of German expressions and short sentences, refer to the restless transience of creative life, much like that of a journeyman craftsperson centuries ago. The result is a highly expressive, dark, and deeply felt, honest album, reflective of shifting emotional states and uneasy sagas from the north.