Release Notes
Label: Denovali
Release: The Sea
Date: March 27th, 2025
Mixed By: Anders Af Klintberg
Artwork By: Martina Hoogland Ivanow
Sometimes a winter storm is exactly what you need to settle down. And while the weather is causing chaos on the outside, perhaps it’s a perfect time to get your house in order. And by that I also mean your mental state. Like an unscheduled day off. Like “playing hooky” back in high school. And so today, I’ve got some music just for that. Swedish composer and pianist Matti Bye has been gifting us with blissful music since 2003. He’s composed music for more than 30 films and TV series, as well as for theatre and dance. His work has earned multiple nominations and awards at Sweden’s prestigious Guldbagge Awards, including a win for the film Faro (2013). I suppose it’s even more appropriate, then, that today’s track premiere is inspired by the island and the waters that surround it (more on that from Matti below). This is a perfect soundtrack for your reflective moments, especially if you’re a fan of evocative neo-classical and ambient explorations of atmospherics and gentle, subtle mood shifts.
It might sound like a cliché, but the music on the album “The Sea” emerged from watching the sea every morning on Fårö – more precisely, in Aursviken. It was the subtle shifts in the sea, the waves, the direction of the wind, and the colour of the sky that filled me with inspiration. The light and the darkness. The fact that we have this beautiful sea surrounding us, and the sky above as an opening toward infinity. Sometimes it’s that simple. I recorded the entire album during the summer of 2024 in a barn on Fårö, using a 1920 Steinway grand piano and a Juno-60 synthesiser through a Nagra tape recorder.
— Matti Bye
The full album, spanning four long-playing tracks, will be out on March 27th, 2026, via Denovali. It will be available on a CD, clear vinyl, and of course, digital. While on the label’s site, I also recommend you grab Matti’s Capri Clouds, which I premiered in 2024 and subsequently picked as my favourite album of the year.
