R-O-R: A Cosmic Alchemy

R-O-R refers to the chemical structure of ether, a compound formed when two elements bond to create entirely new matter. This notion of transformation and union gives its name to the collaboration between Icelandic musicians Gyða Valtýsdóttir and Úlfur Hansson, whose new album, AUGA, represents a unique act of musical alchemy—an ethereal merging of sound and spirit.

On AUGA, the duo creates an expansive sonic landscape that feels like stepping into a lucid dream. Earthly elements—rain, geology, wind—intertwine with the celestial and surreal. Úlfur’s custom-built synthesizer weaves seamlessly with the radiant tones of Gyða’s cello, forming a shimmering tapestry where the material and spectral converge.

This album marks a new chapter in a long-running creative relationship. Gyða contributed cello to Úlfur’s Arborescens, while Úlfur shaped the arrangements and production on Gyða’s albums Evolution and Ox. Their deeper collaboration began with the Icelandic Music Award–nominated track "Morphogenesis", from Gyða’s Epicycle II—a piece that, true to its biological namesake, unfolded as an exploration of form and transformation. Partly improvised, partly composed, it laid the foundation for the symbiotic process that would become AUGA.

The result is a dreamscape of long-form compositions shaped by themes of the astral and the eternal. AUGA feels primordial—like a glowing plasma where melodies materialize from nothingness, only to dissolve into waves of shapeless beauty. On "Petrichor", named for the scent of rain, dew-drop strings blend into bedrock drones. Tracks like "Esters" and "Onium Ion" evoke a molecular dance of atoms, while "Vacuum" plunges us into the abyss of geological deep-time.

Reflecting on their collaboration, Gyða says:

"R-O-R is a realm I love entering. The first time Úlfur and I improvised together, we instantly arrived there—it was so clear, strong, and familiar, like it had always been just behind a veil, waiting to be found. I could never reach it alone. But when our tones met, we went there instantly. It's timeless, colorful, and textural—a poetry of pure vibration."
The music of R-O-R is a hologram formed by two beams of expression.
At times, the lines between instruments vanish—carbon, silicon, horsehair, and wood dissolve into a single projection. It’s a wormhole of sound where image and form, emptiness and presence, dissolve and re-emerge in a fluid dance. AUGA is not just an album; it’s an ever-evolving nebula of sound.