Archives of Longing

The record initially took roots as part of an audio visual project, commissioned by the City Hall in Stockholm and photographer Hannah Modigh, for an exhibition consisting of portraits of homeless women in Stockholm. Composed for six cellos, the seven movements are based upon the portraits and the emotions the pair felt they communicated.

Carving a path through emotional dramaturgy, the album maps through the distinct directions the pair were taken on; including longing, anger, sisterhood, home, and restlessness. There is a strong inspiration taken from Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan of D´Arc, also a piece for multiple cellos, which communicates strength and struggle. “I think also the story of Eastman’s life as pioneering composer who ended up dying homeless, inspired the photographer first, and then Andrew and I to create a piece for multiple cellos, almost as an ode” says Rebekka.

“We sat together in the room and talked about each photo, and what it was saying”, Andrew says. “Many times we would end up in tears before running over to record a new segment, or a new idea”.

Rebekka continues “Never glorifying, objectifying or victimising them, there was just this really pure and respectful reflection of these women and their life in the very moment the picture was taken. There was such a rich pallet of feelings and multifaceted layers of narrative in the pictures to draw from when writing the music. Andrew was someone I had admired for a while. I was so thrilled that she got back to me right away and said yes to collaborating. A few months later, she brought her family and cello to Sweden and we wrote the album over an intense week in the countryside south of Stockholm”.

“We wrote something that was entirely different than either one of us would write on our own”, Andrew responds. “Collaboration is something that is not new to many music genres, and it is such a thrill to see it happening more in the modern classical world.

Rebekka Karijord is a composer and musician originally from Sandnessjøen, just south of the arctic circle in Northern Norway. Over the course of her career she has composed music for over 40 films, modern dance performances and theatrical pieces, as well as released six solo albums under her own name. She is next set to release a vocal record featuring Roomful of Teeth on Bella Union in 2025, and is currently writing music for two feature films.

Grammy award winning cellist Andrew Yee is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet, who have released several critically acclaimed albums. She has composed music for the BBC show ‘We Might Regret This’ as well as a new take on the opera Carmen premiered in Zurich and a film version of Moby Dick co-composed with Caroline Shaw. She plays on an 1884 Eugenio Degani cello on loan from the Five Partners Foundation.