Greater than a decade after they first started recording collectively, Adam Wiltzie has accomplished one remaining collaboration along with his late pal Jóhann Jóhannsson. Friendship Survival Information, due Sept. 18 through Deutsche Grammophon, attracts from periods the pair recorded between 2013 and 2017 earlier than the celebrated Icelandic composer died unexpectedly in 2018 at age 48.
The undertaking reunites Stars of the Lid/Windsor for the Derby principal Wiltzie and Jóhannsson, whose acclaimed movie rating work included The Idea of Every thing and Arrival. Initially conceived alongside their collaborations on these scores, the album languished as Jóhannsson’s movie profession exploded earlier than finally being shelved after his dying. With the blessing of Jóhannsson’s household, Wiltzie not too long ago returned to the tapes to complete what the composer had as soon as described as “our personal bizarre file.”
The ensuing album is each a tribute and a time capsule. A lot of its analog tape loops stay precisely as they had been recorded greater than a decade in the past by longtime engineer Francesco Donadello utilizing Jóhannsson’s Revox tape machines, whereas extra recording periods between 2023 and 2025 introduced in digital visionary Tim Hecker and composer Bryan Senti. The undertaking additionally turned one of many remaining recordings to characteristic producer and engineer Steve Albini, who, based on Wiltzie, “recorded, blasted and amped” most of the album’s guitar components at Chicago’s Electrical Audio studio earlier than his personal dying final yr.
The roots of Friendship Survival Information stretch again to an opportunity assembly in Prague in 2007, when Jóhannsson launched himself to Wiltzie after a Stars of the Lid live performance. The 2 instantly bonded over ambient music, tape loops, orchestral composition and drone, forging a friendship that quickly prolonged into touring, stay efficiency and finally composing collectively. In 2013, whereas buying and selling concepts remotely between Berlin and Belgium throughout work on The Idea of Every thing, they realized they’d the beginnings of a separate collaborative album. Hollywood quickly intervened nevertheless, as that Stephen Hawking biopic earned Jóhannsson a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination, adopted by one other Oscar nomination for Arrival, pushing the non-public undertaking apart.
For Wiltzie, ending the music turned a part of processing his pal’s loss. “Our friendship is the story right here — that one half of the duo is just not round anymore, that he was a great pal of mine and I’m nonetheless coping with his loss,” he says. “On the identical time, it feels nice to be ending this music, as a result of you possibly can really feel Jóhann’s presence. It’s this residing, respiration factor — a wonderful reminder. The quintessentially most good and exquisite factor about collaboration is that it’s one thing you could possibly by no means do by your self. Jóhann’s not there anymore, however this artifact we created collectively is alive and it’s unbelievable.”
The album’s title displays that relationship as nicely. Wiltzie says the monitor names perform as a form of non-public language between the collaborators, with hidden meanings rooted in shared recollections. The opening piece, “September Nineteen Sixty 9,” references the month each musicians had been born — simply two days and an ocean aside.
Friendship Survival Information will arrive alongside a three-part quick movie by Belgian director Jonas Govaerts, starring Wiltzie and actor Jeroen Percevall. Described as a metaphysical nocturnal taxi trip fairly than a documentary, the visible companion was filmed in Ghent and at a prepare station in Muizen, Belgium.
The discharge additionally units the stage for a collection of performances celebrating Jóhannsson’s music, together with an orchestral program on the Vancouver Worldwide Movie Competition in October that includes alternatives from Prisoners, Arrival, Sicario and The Idea of Every thing. Wiltzie may even return to the highway with A Winged Victory for the Sullen this fall, with North American dates scheduled in Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and Brooklyn, N.Y.
