Gydja – Ár Var Alda (Album – Winter-Light)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Gydja is a project hailing from New Zealand and driven by female artist Abby Helasdottir. Several productions have been released during the past twenty years. “Ár Var Alda” (translated “In Ancient Times”) is the artist’s first opus released by Winter-Light.
Content: Entering the sound universe of “Ár Var Alda” is an exploration of Dark-Ambient atmospheres constructed with heavy, powerful sounds and field recordings. The composition is characterized by shrill sound blasts, reminding me of the deafening noises of the subway. The songs have been progressively built up and achieved with multiple noises and even a few vocal parts (chants and effects).
+ + + : This album sounds like good-old Dark-Ambient has to sound. I was impressed by the overwhelming sound production featuring monstrous noises, buzzing sound waves and explicit field recordings. The work has a strong visual appeal, which is accentuated by the constant, tormented atmosphere recovering the work. A few haunting vocals are only accentuating the state of horror caused by the simple power of music. “And Thence Arose Our Giants Race” perfectly illustrates this freaky, but great sensation.
– – – : I wasn’t familiar at all with Gydja, which is a shame (!), but this work definitely incited me to discover previous productions of the project.
Conclusion: “Ár Var Alda” is a briljant piece of music; fully accomplished and rather sophisticated for this genre of music. My single regret is the rather deceiving last track –which also is the longest one, which can’t bring a final climax to this work.
Best songs: “Winters Unmeasured Ere Earth Was Made”, “A Chasm Gaped”, “And Thence Arose Our Giants’ Race”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.gydja.com / www.facebook.com/GydjaOfficial
Label: www.winter-light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1
About Gydja
Gydja is the project of Abby Helasdottir, a sound artist based in New Zealand. Discogs traces the discography back to 2001, with “Liber Babalon” and a reissue of “Rokkrsong” on Shadowlight Kommunikations, followed by “Cold Seed (Hagalaz Meditation)” and “Rivers…” in 2002, the “Corpus Callosum” EP on Kolorform Records and the mini-album “Consecrated Spring” in 2003. “Machina Mundi” on Gears Of Sand and “Helchemy” on Afe Records both appeared in 2008, and “The Blue-Lidded Daughter Of Sunset” on Roil Noise Offensive in 2010.
The label states that “Ár var alda (In ancient times)” is Gydja’s second appearance on Winter-Light, after the 2017 double-CD compilation “… that first season”. It was released on 16 April 2021 and holds nine tracks across four movements, with titles taken from Old Norse. Helasdottir composed, produced and recorded the album at Ultrasound between 2015 and 2020. Lyn Goeringer added vocals on two tracks and Serena Helasdottir-Cole contributed percussion and rainsticks. Robin Storey mastered the record, and Midnight Sun Studio supplied the cover artwork and design.
Gydja stayed with the same label afterwards, releasing “Þjódáar Fnæstu Eitri” in 2023 and appearing on the collaborative album Onasander, Ashtoreth, Gydja – Animic Atmospheres (Album – Digital/CD – Winter-Light) in 2024. The most recent Winter-Light album, Gydja – Níu Kom Ek Heima Fyr Niflhel Neðan (Digital-CD Album – Winter-Light), was reviewed in August 2026.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
