Recordings from the Åland Islands

A graphic designer, educator, and community organizer as well as a musician, Jeremiah Chiu makes warm, organic-sounding electronic music using a combination of analog and digital synthesizers, samplers, and computers. He is the founder of design studio Some All None and a resident DJ at Los Angeles-based online radio station Dublab. He often creates artwork for releases on Chicago's International Anthem Recording Company, which also issues some of his own music, including his 2023 solo effort In Electric Time and several collaborations with violist Marta Sofia Honer. The duo teamed up with new age pioneer Ariel Kalma for 2024's The Closest Thing to Silence.

Jeremiah Chiu was trained as a classical violinist and pianist as a child. He studied graphic design and art, and played in groups such as Icy Demons, Chandeliers, and Axis: Sova as part of the community of artists associated with Chicago's Shape Shoppe studio and collective. Chiu also established his skills as an electronic music composer, and he moved to Los Angeles in 2014 in order to concentrate on this work. As Cosmic Son, he released a lo-fi synth pop tape titled Moon Surf in 2015. Song Send Poem, a limited cassette and book, was issued in 2018. Chiu collaborated with Takako Minekawa on the meditative 2020 single "Time You Can Change."

Chiu and longtime collaborator Marta Sofia Honer released the improvisation-based Recordings from the Åland Islands in 2022. The duo created the 19-minute piece "Leaving Grass Mountain," which was issued by Longform Editions in 2023. After touring with M83 as their opening act, Chiu visited the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles, and spent two days recording improvisations to analog tape. These sessions resulted in the solo album In Electric Time, released on cassette in 2023 and on vinyl the following year. Chiu and Honer worked with French experimental musician Ariel Kalma, producing the 2024 full-length The Closest Thing to Silence. ~ Paul Simpson

Los Angeles-based violist/violinist and educator Marta Sofia Honer works in contemporary and classical fields, including session work and performances with major pop stars as well as film and television scores. She has performed on several Grammy-nominated recordings and Oscar-nominated soundtracks, and worked with artists including Beyoncé, Angel Olsen, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Fleet Foxes. She frequently collaborates with electronic musician Jeremiah Chiu on experimental ambient releases, including 2022's Recordings from the Åland Islands and 2024's The Closest Thing to Silence (with Ariel Kalma).

A longtime freelance violist and graduate of DePaul University in Chicago, Marta Sofia Honer relocated to Los Angeles during the mid-2010s, where she began working as a violin teacher and strings instructor. As a studio and remote string session musician, she worked on scores for numerous series and films, including The Good Place, Promising Young Woman, and Star Trek: The Lower Decks. She played on albums by Amanda Palmer, Angel Olsen, Beyoncé's The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack, Chloe x Halle, and numerous others, and she performed with Ariana Grande at the 2020 Grammy Awards. She joined the faculty of California State University in 2021. Her first album with synthesizer artist Jeremiah Chiu, Recordings from the Åland Islands, was released by International Anthem Recording Company in 2022. The duo recorded the 19-minute composition "Leaving Grass Mountain," which appeared on Longform Editions in 2023. Working with French experimental musician and new age pioneer Ariel Kalma, Honer and Chiu recorded the heavily improvisation-based The Closest Thing to Silence, which arrived in 2024. ~ Paul Simpson