Iceland
(Filmed Sept 28th-Oct6th, 2018)
With the help of donations from 542 wonderful humans we were able to travel to Iceland with a group of 43 people and record there for 10 days. The trip was transformative and resulted in collaborations unlike any we’ve done before. We travelled all around the country using the beautiful landscapes of Iceland as our backdrop. We completed 20 episodes and were lucky to feature many original tunes written by the incredible people that traveled with us.
We hope that you enjoy these special sessions.
Apartment Sessions: Iceland -- Crane Wife 3 (The Decemberists) Music & Lyrics by The Decemberists Arranged by Ethan Crystal & Luke McGinnis Ethan Crystal - Vocals, Guitar Brian Plautz - Flute Drew Krasner - Clarinet David Engelhard - Saxophone Emma Sundvik - Trumpet Camellia Hartman - Violin Zach Ivy -
" 'Where is the Water' is about falling in and out of touch with humanity. It's easy to lose sight of what really matters in this chaotic world, and water serves as the perfect metaphor for our modern-day indifference. Our lives depend on it, but how often do we really step back and give it the thanks or consideration it deserves?"
"To bacteria I am a place to an ant I'm a natural disaster to stranger I'm a face and to our planet I'm a passenger."
Music and Poem by Drew Krasner & the Iceland Soundscape Trio Arranged by Drew Krasner Drew Krasner - piano Rob Taylor - bass Tim Talavera - drums Camellia Hartman - violin Darian Thomas - violin Jon Chen - cello Andy Taylor - cello Kai Sandoval - trumpet David Engelhard -
"This piece is inspired by and dedicated to my brother Phil. I wrote it in celebration of his 30th birthday." - Rob Taylor I am shaken from my morbid reverie when a little girl wearing purple rainboots taps me on the shoulder and solemnly shows me a palmful of glitter.
Apartment Sessions: Iceland, Episode 16 - The Mess Inside (The Mountain Goats) "To me, this song is about the messes we hide inside, the darkest and most wounded parts of ourselves that we let fester. We carry them over oceans, we change our scenery, we long for healing and the love we once knew.
Apartment Sessions: Iceland - The Whale (Daniel Emond) "The Whale is the opening song to a concept album/musical I'm writing by the same name, based on my favorite book, "Moby-Dick". Like the 800-page tome, Iceland has a storied history of whaling; there could be no more fitting a setting for Ishmael's wandering ballad than Hvalfjordur, Iceland's Whale Fjord.
"I composed Fluid while meditating on the idea of a body of water interacting with vastly different civilizations over millennia. The piece is explicitly about the Yanaguana river in San Antonio, Texas. The Payaya people gave the river its name, meaning "refreshing waters".
"To enter a cave is to know darkness as the primordial mother, to remember that contrast gives birth to beauty, and to trust that light exists even when you cannot see it. It is an act of submission to higher truths; a place with its own rules and walls and weather, a place where old worlds smile and breathe life into new."
Music and Poem by Drew Krasner & the Iceland Soundscape Trio Arranged by Drew Krasner Drew Krasner - tenor sax, piano Rob Taylor - bass Tim Talavera - drums Camellia Hartman - violin Darian Thomas - violin Jon Chen - cello Andy Taylor - cello Kai Sandoval - trumpet David
I wrote 'I Would' in a moment where I thought I did not want to be where I was. With the ocean as my only consolation, I sang to my future and the reminder that darkness always breaks, realizing I could orient myself toward that promise.
Apartment Sessions: Iceland, Episode 17 - Time Adventure (Rebecca Sugar) "I first heard the song "Time Adventure" while crying at my desk because I was watching the Adventure Time finale at work, and that is all you really need to know about me and my priorities.
Thank you for your support! We couldn’t have done it without you.
"Our home is all around us. It is all over and it's all ours and it's all we've got besides each other."
"When the world feels dark and lonely - like it is crumbling around me - I remember the people in my life that I love and believe in, and that gives me hope. I believe in Apartment Sessions and everything it stands for - creativity, collaboration, community, resistance, and above all else, love."
"The Departure" is an illustration of the inside of my head - a conversation had with myself about an event that, though imagined for years, came to pass in an unexpected and wholly unremarkable way.
Music and Poem by Drew Krasner & the Iceland Soundscape Trio Arranged by Drew Krasner Drew Krasner - piano Rob Taylor - bass Tim Talavera - drums Engineered by Jen Kraus, Evan Tyor and Kevin Grossman Mixed and mastered by Evan Tyor Filmed by Liz Maney, Stephen Michael Simon, Stephen
Apartment Sessions: Iceland, Episode 15 - Trumpeter's Prayer (Tutti Camarata) "Swooning from the smokey alps of ice and snow the sirens sing their sweet melodies casting light in even the darkest of caves We all melt together into snow stew as ribbons of light drench these pupils in renewed life
