Tonik Ensemble is the brainchild of Anton Kaldal Ágústsso, an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist with a deep affection for cinematic soundscapes. His debut album Snapshots was released last week via Berlin-based label Atomnation, and brings together ambient electronics and organic live instruments into an 8-track symphony of glacial frequencies.
Aside from the visceral landscape of Iceland seeping into his music, Ágústsso has pointed to synaesthesia as a strong influence on the end result of the album:
“With a mild synaesthesia, the gap between sound and sight fades away when songwriting resembles more the process of painting on canvas. Colour theory along with other methods and terminologies of the visual, all of the sudden apply to music as well.”
Fittingly, we’re streaming the sulty-yet-soulful track ‘Synaesthesia’ off the new record, bringing molasses-like vocals that ooze across an ambient backdrop that wouldn’t be out of place on a Bonobo record.
Snapshots is available on 12″, CD and Digitally via Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon & Juno.
