Product Description
2 Springflowers
3 Drone Meditation I
4 Drone Meditation II
5 In the forest
6 Drone Meditation III
7 Själsro
8 Kontracellodrone I
9 Kontracellodrone II
10 Oden sover middag
11 Reanimation
12 Gladlynt
Genres: Ambient, Crossover Classical, Minimalist, Drone
On his 4th Projekt release Stockholm-based cellist and composer Henrik Meierkord creates melancholy steeped in pensive drama. His new album of ambient (and occasionally melodic) minimalist music drifts in the language of solitude alongside glimmers of light. The cello, violin, and viola resonate as raw, voices — each note a breath, a murmur, a sigh. Together with pedals and processing, the instrumental soundscapes create a space for longing.
“The title is very subjective,” Meierkord observes, “it describes your inner soul or mind. The space of longing, for me, is where I can breathe and let my neurotic ego vanish, and I just exist. I get there in the forest or at sea. It’s a space where I feel safe and where I can long for things, yet also know it might take one’s whole life, like an odyssey. And of course when I’m making music I am in my space of longing.”
Bandcamp Daily picked Meierkord’s Falling (2024) as an Album of the Day and wrote: “(The music) often stems from a place of anxiety, serving as a balm for spells of unease. But unlike so many ambient-adjacent musicians today he’s not using soundscapes as a conduit for wellness. Instead, Meierkord probes his inner darkness, locating a wellspring of creative energy in internal tumult… Far from your run-of-the-mill contemporary classical release where so many of his peers use traditional instrumentation to craft pristine scores for imaginary nature footage, Meierkord’s murky pieces call to mind thematically challenging prose.”
“There is always something melancholic in the Nordic character,” Meierkord observes. “Melancholy blended with nature, sea and forest, snow and mountains and a folk tone that we grow up with. The Scandinavian winters are long, and we have to do something creative. I think dark music is something that touches your inner feelings and helps let your control go. It’s like some kind of meditation to embrace your unconsciousness. Creating my music is emotionally driven. No rules, just feelings. Both improvisation and intuition as they go hand in hand.”
Chain DLK wrote, “Here, sorrow becomes a sanctuary, darkness a homecoming.”
Reviews Editor –
From Chain DLK
Henrik Meierkord’s Space of Longing feels less like a record and more like a diary etched in bow strokes, sighs, and glacial drones – an atlas of solitude where cello, viola, and violin replace pen and ink. Released on Projekt, it marks the Stockholm-based composer’s fourth offering for the label, and it continues his excavation of the fragile territory where melancholy and light blur into one another.
The title is fitting: this music occupies an interior chamber, not quite empty, not quite full – the place where yearning dwells without necessarily demanding resolution. Meierkord speaks of it as a safe zone, a forest clearing where the neurotic ego dissolves. Listening, you sense he isn’t chasing catharsis but constructing a shelter in sound. The cello doesn’t weep in melodrama; it murmurs, sighs, stretches across long tones like breath caught between resignation and grace.
The structure of the album alternates between pieces that sketch with relative melodic clarity and expansive drones that move with geological patience. Tracks like “Höstpromenad” and “Springflowers” conjure seasonal light, a Nordic wistfulness that recalls the slow arc of sunlight across cold skies. By contrast, “Drone Meditation I–III” and “Kontracellodrone” plunge into long, resonant caverns where time itself seems suspended, as if one note might last a whole winter. It’s telling that “Drone Meditation III” sprawls for over fifteen minutes: an endurance of stillness, a hymn to patience.
And yet, Meierkord resists cliché. His melancholy is not simply bleak. “Sjlsro” (a Swedish term suggesting peace of the soul) is delicate, a small reconciliation. “Gladlynt” closes the album with something unexpected: a piece that almost, almost smiles, like a pale Scandinavian sun finally breaking through cloud. Even “Oden sover middag” (Odin takes a nap) carries humor in its title – the idea of a god of war snoozing after lunch softens the austerity of the drones with a wink.
What makes Meierkord stand apart from many “neo-classical” peers is precisely this refusal to varnish darkness into wellness or to frame his work as ambient escapism. He builds soundscapes that embrace the murk, the unease, the vast interior landscapes of longing that can’t be tidied up. The forest isn’t an Instagram postcard here – it’s a living organism of shadows, crunching twigs, and quiet threats. His music has more in common with the unsettling beauty of Tomas Tranströmer’s poetry than with cinematic string swells.
Space of Longing thus works on two planes: as meditative atmosphere and as a document of vulnerability. Its restraint is its power. Each bow stroke feels like a hesitant confession; each drone is a room with only one small window, through which a shard of light insists on entering.
In a world obsessed with quick fixes and streaming playlists labeled “Calm”, Meierkord offers something riskier: a sonic space where longing is not something to be eliminated but to be lived with. If melancholy here is a kind of national trait, as he suggests, it is also a universal one – the recognition that absence can be fertile, and that beauty often arrives dressed in minor keys.
This is music to breathe with, to endure with, to slowly unfold inside of. Dark, yes. But in the darkness, you can hear the sound of someone keeping watch. -Vito Camarretta
Reviews Editor –
From Obsküre
Henrik Meierkord returns with an album dedicated to dreams, nostalgia, and contemplation. Space of Longing is the Swede’s fourth album to be released by Projekt. It follows last year’s acclaimed Falling. We’ve been following with great interest the career of this musician with an impressive resume, who embraces the most elegant experimentation. Indeed, he regularly releases seminal works in the fusion of neoclassical and ambient music. His discography has distinguished itself by its formal quality and emotional rigor. Also a valued collaborator, signed to Ambientologist, Dronarivm, and Subcontinental, his refined style has excited us for some time. This new opus, scheduled for release on August 1st, is enchanting, marked by a typically Nordic melancholic feeling.
These twelve new tracks continue Meierkord’s quest for the most poignant sound. The compositions undulate, carried by minimalist strings and a few electronic elements. Yet everything begins with piano notes. Then the cello plays its part, somewhere between sweetness and sadness; the tone is set. Space of Longing constantly oscillates between classicism and ambient. A happy variation that doesn’t exclude the union of the two worlds. “Springflowers” is a perfect example of a successful marriage. The Stockholmer’s touch is totally discernible, with its thin layers and acoustic depth. Similarly, “Drone Meditation I” stands out for the intense work done on the instruments and the dark, serious atmosphere it exudes. We are reminded of Alio Die’s earlier works.
The pieces are thus bathed in a fragile tranquility. The drones flow in and form a dreamlike base, but their intransigence is disrupted by an opening viola, as on “In the Forest.” At times, the composer completely immerses us in the hovering drone, a reassuring sound bath, but one that foreshadows a darker future. For the artist fiercely appreciates dark territories. This is especially evident in the diptych “Kontracellodrone,” which, in our opinion, forms the least successful passages of this production. Moreover, on the subject of darkness, Meierkord declares: “I think dark music is something that touches your inner feelings and helps you let go of control. It’s a kind of meditation that allows you to embrace your unconscious.”
Space of Longing confirms the positive attitudes we have towards the cellist. Indeed, an impeccable sense of beauty emerges here. The alliance of sounds is remarkable and we can only salute the overall audacity. The Scandinavian takes various paths to better sublimate them with a completely delightful economy of means. The end of this elegiac journey brings together the quintessence of Meierkord’s art. “Gladlynt” is a sublime piece, recalling the excellence of Gavin Bryars at the time of The Sinking Of The Titanic . The notes are stretched and repeated, an intimate and delicate waltz, magnificently transcribing the personality of the master. Thus, regrets surface, but despite everything the past is viewed with kindness. As the other would say: splendid! -Oliviër Bernard
Reviews Editor –
From Ambient Blog
Swedish musician Henrik Meierkord may be a cellist primarily, but he also plays viola, double bass, guitar and many other instruments. Likewise, he may be known as an ‘ambient’ musician mainly, but his work covers many different genres. Using both his string instruments and electronics, he creates a fluid and natural combination of neoclassical arrangements and ambient drones.
This is clearly demonstrated on his latest album Space of Longing, which starts off with a neoclassical tune Höstpromenad (Autumn Walk), and then immediately switches to full ambient mode in Springflowers. The ambient mood is retained in many tracks (such as in the Drone Meditation and Kontracellodrone tracks), but these are interspersed with some more acoustic sounding melancholic melodies – as to avoid us drifting away too deep.
“There is always something melancholic in the Nordic character,” Meierkord observes. “Melancholy blended with nature, sea and forest, snow and mountains and a folk tone that we grow up with. The Scandinavian winters are long, and we have to do something creative. […] It’s like some kind of meditation to embrace your unconsciousness. Creating my music is emotionally driven. No rules, just feelings. Both improvisation and intuition as they go hand in hand.”
Space of Longing is Meierkord‘s fourth album release on the Projekt label. -Peter Van Coolen
Reviews Editor –
From Dave Aftandilian at Bandcamp
Swelling and ebbing like gentle tides of emotion, these lovely understated compositions sometimes shiver with anxious anticipation, and sometimes soothe with the peace that comes from years of experience navigating through painful storms to the heartbreakingly beautiful dawns that follow. Although a tone of hushed, introspective melancholy suffuses the album, Henrik Meierkord also rewards the listener with sweeping orchestral expanses of wonder and hope.