Johann Johannsson
LAST AND FIRST MEN
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
A haunting elegiac concept album of lost utopias from the dearly departed Icelander.
based on the cult science fiction novel by olaf stapledon, jóhann jóhannsson's opus magnum ‘last and first men’ artfully combines music, film and narration from tilda swinton, sitting somewhere between fiction and documentary to form a poetic meditation on memory and loss. images of a decaying futuristic landscape filmed in 16mm black and white in the former yugoslav republics are placed against jóhannsson’s haunting orchestral score, crafted over seven years. the recording features jóhannsson’s long term musical collaborator, hildur guðnadóttir (vocals, cello, percussion).
