Jóhann Jóhannsson Fordlandia

Originally released just as Jóhann’s star was rising in the world of modern composition, Fordlândia is a beautiful meld of strings and electronics, with two themes running throughout; “This album is like a film with two separate story lines that at first don ́t seem to have a lot to do with each other, but actually they do,” said Jo- hann at the time. The idea of failed utopias is the main thread, and the album’s title is a reference to the Fordlândia rubber plantation in Brazil that Henry Ford built with grand plans in the mid-1920s but abandoned after a mere eight years at a huge cost and without a single tire having been produced. The collision of mysticism and rocket science is the other theme explored – made apparent by song titles such as “The Rocket Builder (Lo Pan!)” and “Melodia (Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device Based on Heim’s Quantum Theory)” – a topic Jóhann was fascinated by at the time of writing this album, keenly studying the leftfield works of John Whiteside Parsons and Burkhard Heim. Previously only available on vinyl as a small run pressed by Jóhann himself on his NTOV label, which has since become highly collectable, this new pressing comes spread across two 180g pieces of black vinyl and housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve. This pressing has been mastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx and the artwork has been adapted from his original design by Chris Bigg.