Confessions by Gray Friar & Hjartans

Initial conversations about this release began in June 2023 to plan how we might bridge our projects and our interests in a shared release. While Gray Friar and Hjartans are thematically distinct, drawing mutual inspiration from the idea of confessions binds us.

The foundation of Gray Friar's songs rests on Augustine of Hippo's early autobiographical work, "Confessions," while Hjartans draws their inspiration from the works of W.D. Snodgrass (a pioneer of the literary genre of confessional poetry) and Gunnar Gunnarsson (author of the first Icelandic crime novel).

Tracklist

1.	Gray Friar - Solatium in Cogitationibus	5:58

2.	Gray Friar - Murmura Sapientiae	6:22

3.	Gray Friar - Litania Temporis	5:59

4.	Hjartans - Heart's Needle	7:06

5.	Hjartans - Svartfugl	6:42

Credits

released August 3, 2024

Inspired by and dedicated to Augustine of Hippo, W.D. Snodgrass, and Gunnar Gunnarsson.

Svartfugl is the second Hjartans song written in 5EDO, a xenharmonic tuning system alternative to the usual 12-tone equal division of the octave. Hjartans is grateful to Hattiehats from Melkor's Dungeon for sharing valuable resources on how to obtain such a tuning system with hardware synths.

Written by Gray Friar and Hjartans, mmxxiii to mmxxiv.
Gray Friar variant painting by Philippe de Champaigne (d. 1694).
Hjartans variant painting by James Carroll Beckwith (d. 1917).
J-card templating by Gray Friar.

License