Von Hauswolff, Anna: All Thoughts Fly LP

Musician/composer Anna Von Hausswolff's All Thoughts Fly ultimately embodies the exploration of any and all possibilities, and the audience is invited to listen, liberate the mind and let it wander. Consisting of just one instrument, the pipe organ, All Thoughts Fly radiates a melancholic beauty and is distinguished by fluid transitions of contrasting elements; calmness and drama, harmony and dissonance, much like the place that inspires the music. The organ on All Thoughts Fly is situated in Gothenburg and is a Swedish replica of the Arp Schnitger organ in Germany. It is the largest organ tuned in Quarter-comma Meantone temperament in the world. With its four manuals, one pedal and fifty-four stops, it was built as part of a 1o-year research project reconstructing 17th Century North German organ building craft. The tuning temperament is an important detail to note here, as it deeply affects the sound and tuning, and thus radically changed the process of creating this album. Anna speaks of a pleasant surprise during recording, the organ's ability to create beautiful "pitching" notes through its stops and air supply system. Von Hausswolff remarks, "We took advantage of this so most of the pitching sounds and notes that you hear on the album comes from the mechanics of this organ, effects made entirely acoustically." The organ was recorded with two room mics for atmosphere and two pairs of close mics placed inside the organ to capture nuances and detail for further organ sound processing by Filip Leyman in his studio. All Thoughts Fly was recorded in seven days in January 2020, the songs were written in 2019 and 2020. With organ sound design by Filip Leyman and Anna Von Hausswolff, who also produced and mixed the album, All Thoughts Fly was recorded in Örgryte New Church, in Gothenburg January 2020, performed on their Quarter-comma Meantone tempered North German Baroque organ. The record was recorded with mobile equipment from Svenska Grammofonstudion and mastered by Hans Olsson at Svenska Grammofonstudion. The album is completed with cover and inner sleeve photography by Gianluca Grasselli, and layout and design by Tina Damgaard.