5. Runhild GammelsaeterAmplicon
Runhild is an amazing woman. At 17-years-old she started doing vocals for doom band Thorr’s Hammer. Since then she has earned her PhD and became president of a Norwegian biotechnology company. Talk about a role model! Thankfully her pursuits in science have not derailed her impressive musical talents. She collaborated with James Plotkin (from the phenomenal band Khanate) as Khlyst, creating abstract, improvisational soundscapes. Runhild’s solo album Amplicon is mesmerising. Her layered and textured vocals weave in and out of one another to create a feral, idiosyncratic work that is downright terrifying. Upon listening you get a sense that this is a deeply personal work, and it being her first solo effort, maybe there is something lingering that she needed to exorcise on her own terms. Or, maybe I am fabricating my own wishful backstory. But there is something very raw and real in the savagery of Amplicon that refuses to go unnoticed.Â
