“On the 8th January 2025 I travelled to the Norwegian island of Andøya, in the Arctic Circle for a three week solo residency,” writes London-based musician Kit Grill in the text that accompanies his new album, Andøya. “Surrounded by sea, snow, and mountains, I lived in isolation and travelled around the island each day documenting the landscape. At 10am, the background light of the sun beneath the horizon would light the day and in the 4 hour window of light, I would hike into the mountains and explore the wilderness. It was a profound experience that changed the way I thought about sound, solitude, and what it means to be alone in nature.”
Andøya is the northernmost island in the Vesterålen archipelago in northern Norway, 300km inside the Arctic Circle. With a population of under 5,000, it was once one of Norway’s most important fishing outposts and an integral part of the indigenous Sámi people’s coastal culture. Now home to two space centres, it embodies many of the contradictions that have come to define remote Arctic regions - where wild nature, local history and technological infrastructure are layered through the landscape.
Having spent 6 months living on a small island in northern Scotland - home to just 30 people - and finding myself profoundly moved by the experience, I was curious to learn about Kit’s new project. Although the Isle of Muck where I had been was much smaller and far less wild (or snowy), I had come away with a sense that the only way I could really capture something of that time was through sound.
“Since returning,” Kit continues in the text, “I created a body of music informed by that time to try and capture the vastness and unpredictability of the Arctic landscape. The album moves through the sensory extremes: ice cracking, storms forming and fading, the rumble of tectonic plates, waves crashing, harsh winds, trudging through snow, and the sharpness of freezing air. The album aims to reflect both the landscape itself and the shifting emotions that came with living in isolation and the Arctic environment. The music and photography serve as a recorded diary of my time there, documenting the experience.”
How do you translate a sense of vastness, of empty space, isolation, loneliness, or even simply just cold, through sound? How do you work field recordings into compositions that will communicate something of that memory to those who weren’t there? How do you reconcile being a visitor, artist and recordist in an unfamiliar environment with your own practice?
Rather than a conventional Q&A, for this special Through Sounds post, Kit shared snippets from his diary and a selection of analogue photos that provide an intimate context to the music he created.
Day 1: After 3 planes leaving London at 9am, I arrived at Andenes airport at 7pm. Freezing. Collected car from Ola then went shopping at Rema 1000, bought logs and food for a few days. Drove across the island in the night to the cabin. Freezing wind when I got out the car, carrying all my bags to the cabin through the snow. It was a big wake up call how cold life can get. Definitely should have worn gloves.
Day 2: Very excited to wake up. Snow everywhere, low light. Magical colour. Drove around the island and explored what was nearest. Back at the cabin by 1:30pm. Pitch black, lighting a fire. A long night ahead.
Day 4: Climbed up a nearby mountain and hoping the sky clears. I decided to make a routine to get through my time to help give some structure to my days:
Wake up
Breakfast
Drive, hike, take photos
Go to cafe, supermarket
Home by 2pm
Work for 2 hours
Exercise
Dinner
Day 6: Booked in a sauna with the local husky owner. It’s been a few days without talking to anyone so will be good to speak with people. Isolation really makes you realise how much you take for granted being with people in ‘civilisation’.
Day 7: Explored the island, driving from west to east to a café. Thick fog, ice and low visibility made the drive dodgy but the car handled it well. Saw a wild otter and white rabbit - highlight of the day. Weather changed in the evening, getting warmer with low visibility. Lots of rain, fog, no light. Pretty tough conditions.
Day 8: Storm has arrived. High winds and lots of rain. Snow has melted. Hard to do much when it’s like this as visibility is so low and dark. Beginning to feel a big change of environment setting in.
Day 9: Earthquake tremor last night. Heard a huge bang / crack in the night. Thought something feel off the roof. Local news outlets reporting on it. Lack of light and not having regular conversation is tough. It’s reassuring to know locals struggle with lack of light too. Hoping for weather to get colder and snow to return. Bumped into a few locals, nice to have a chat. Walked up a beautiful mountain today, will go back tomorrow with snow.
Day 10: Aurora Borealis showed up :) Big change in weather and outlook. The local space station was also firing its laser’s into the sky. Looked crazy with northern lights and the lasers. Turns out there are twospace space stations here, Isar Aerospace and Andøya Space.
Day 11: Hiked another local mountain, good to see different perspective across the island. Aurora Borealis showed up again.
Day 12: Drove over the bridge to Eikeland. When I returned, I went for a walk around the coastline. Reflecting on how few people are here, the only people I see are when I go in to supermarket. I saw lots of eagles hovering above my walk today. Aurora Borealis showed up again, getting spoilt now :)
Day 13: Sun came up today. Beautiful to see, really makes you appreciate the sun. Starting to think about how I will translate this experience into sound, I have a few sketches started.
Day 14: Went to the local town and for a walk along local beach. Swear I saw another otter but they move so fast that you second guess yourself.
Day 15: Approaching the end of the trip. Excited to go whale watching, they showed up - amazing to see. Graceful and huge creatures. It was amazing to hear the whale sounds from the boat.
Day 16: Met the local huskies and spent a morning with them taking photos. It was lovely chatting with Will, a guy from Ireland who moved over here to be with his girlfriend. He has 7 Huskies and is hoping for consistent snow to get them out. There’s a beautiful one who is cross with a Siberian wolf (I think).
Day 17: Empty day, packing. Feels weird living as it’s become like normal living here.
Day 18: The time has come to leave. It’s sad to say goodbye. My biggest reflections are that travelling on your own is inspiring - you build a relationship with the landscape, live amongst it and have new experiences; and that it’s great to get away from the hyper modern busy life we can find ourselves in - It’s refreshing to be away from everything but hard at the same time. Lastly, to realise how important the sun is, the giver of life, without it can get very tough. It’s been a trip that’s had everything in and excited to see how I can translate this into music.
Kit Grill’s Andøya is out now via Primary Colours.
All photos courtesy of Kit Grill.
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