Aursjoen presents debut single and video: ‘Nytår’ – Out now
Aursjoen
(Photo by David Kruschke) San Francisco-based artist Aursjoen presents her debut single “Nytår”. The new single comes complemented by a video created by filmmaker David Kruschke.
Aursjoen is the project of Ria Aursjoen, who is vocalist and keyboardist for the post-punk outfit Octavian Winters, who released their debut EP “The Line or Curve” in 2023, followed by their 2024 “Nebula / Velveteen” single with electronic-industrial legend Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated). A classically-trained singer and multi-instrumentalist, her musical past is steeped in genres ranging from Celtic and Nordic folk to darkwave and progressive metal.
Her debut “Strand” EP is slated for release on November 15 via Stratis Capta Records and was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by William Faith (The Bellwether Syndicate, Faith and the Muse, Mephisto Waltz, Christian Death) at 13 Studio in Chicago. For this material Aursjoen is joined by Octavian Winters bandmate Stephan Bryan Salit contributing dynamic and atmospheric guitars on two songs.
This first single “Nytår”, which means “New Year” in Danish, was written on New Year’s Eve of 2022. Ria Aursjoen says this about the origins of “Nytår”: “This song started when I was experimenting with a slow-moving string arrangement that captured my imagination and made me think of walking down a dark road in winter, against the wind. The more I saw the image in my mind, the more it reminded me of Denmark, where I spent years as a child. It especially reminded me of how the world looked and felt when I would go out with my ice skates in the winter twilight to skate on the pond near my house at the outskirts of Copenhagen, so I wrote the lyrics in Danish. Midwinter in Denmark is very dark and very cold with short days. You spend time dreaming of the spring returning, waiting for it. My memories of that time as well as the language itself transported me back to those feelings and guided the way the song evolved both lyrically and musically.”
Aursjoen comes from a familial line of musicians, her grandmother Lillian an opera singer and grandfather Morris a singer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. Having taught herself to play piano by ear at age three, she considers it her instrument of choice for songwriting; “I have been playing for as long as I remember, so piano feels like an extension of myself, a native language if you like.”
Nevertheless it was singing that unlocked something even more powerful within her: “The neighbours would complain about me singing loudly outside their windows while I waited for the school bus. They told my mother they didn’t know what I could possibly have to sing about that early in the morning. Fortunately, my mother never took the complaints seriously and never tried to discourage me. She has been my biggest supporter, and a great friend, and I wouldn’t be here today as an artist if not for her.”
As someone who has synesthesia, a rare neurodiverse condition in which senses overlap, Aursjoen experiences sound as visual structures, colours and textures. “I avoided regular music notation as much as I could. I coaxed my mother (a great sight reader) into playing my piano homework. Then I’d listen and learn it by ear – eventually my piano teacher discovered I had been faking note reading and I had to buckle down and really learn it… I am glad I did, but I still find it clunky and unintuitive, and still write music in my personal system of notation.”
As of today September 10, “Nytår” is available everywhere digitally, including Bandcamp. The full “Strand” album, out November 15 via Stratis Capta Records, is already available for pre-order.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
