*2024 stock* Øra Fonogram announces the worldwide release of Rökkur, the joint album of Norwegian composer and performer Maja S. K. Ratkje and Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect (Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, Marie Stockmarr Becker, Hanna Loftsdóttir, Guðrún Óskarsdóttir).

What is ‘rökkur’?

‘Rökkur’ is the Icelandic word for twilight — the hour when shadows fall, a time of transition, ambiguity, and magic. When ‘rökkur’ fell in pre-electric times, a space appeared for storytelling, reading, yarn spinning, singing, or even a dreamlike state of dozing. Inspired by this shared tradition, Maja S. K. Ratkje and ensemble Nordic Affect have embarked on a sonic journey allowing ‘rökkur’ to become a path for morphing and shifting between the familiar, the atmosphere from the past, and the yet to be imagined future.

Since their first appearance together at Dark Music Days in Iceland in 2019, their music making has evolved in relation to each new performance, always exploring and revealing new shades of noise and timbre. Ratkje blends her extended vocals with the Baroque instrumental sound of Nordic Affect, at times treated and re-established in real-time by the cyborg electronic extensions of Ratkje’s live electronics.