NEW MELATONIN RELEASE:

May the 3rd 2006: Maria is releasing a new Melatonin CD, the initial of the new series "Private Imperfections", called "Waves of Air and Seasons through Me". She will do an acoustic performance in Holy Trinity Church in Leeds, UK, as a small and informal release concert for the CD. The CD is for sale at http://www.CDbaby.com/cd/melatonin You can also buy one from Maria with a Paypal account. Just get in touch. You can listen to excerpts from the CD here and on MySpace.

Melatonin is a music project that sometime in 2003 started to manifest itself as the audible product with the distinct identity it has today. However, it is perhaps most correct to say that the initial ideas and foundation for the project already came about around the mid 90s when Jardardottir started to experiment with very plain tools for electro acoustic compositions and improvisations in her little home studio then situated in Oslo. More about Melatonin at its very initial conception...


Education and development:

During the year 2004-2005 the project was brought in as the main project of Maria Jardardottir's Master Degree study in advanced performance (commencing the autumn 2004 and running for 13 months). Maria graduated in October 2005 with a high distinction for her work on this solo project along with her work on the duo project Curious Voice Duo.

Through the years 2004 – 2006 a huge number of pieces have been created and recorded as part of Maria’s eager work with Melatonin. A selection of pieces from this production will form the CD series ”Intimate Imperfections - Compilation of work and research” which will be a series of three CDs containing work and research carried out as part of one entire project running through 2004, 2005 and 2006. The series is currently being sound treated and will be released as a whole; however release date is still not set.


Feedback:

At the time Jardardottir internationally receives immensely positive and encouraging feedback on Melatonin, which perhaps is the project wherein the entirety of her musical expression is most evident. The project has been featured on BBC radio 3’s program Jazz on 3 and recommended by the Belgian new music organization (K-RAA-K)3 in their magazine Ruis alongside names like Massive Attack, Chris Watson and Velvet Underground. Melatonin was commissioned for several performances for experimental music collectives and improvised music festivals throughout 2005.


The first Melatonin release:

The first Melatonin release, an independent self-financed CD named ”[Monotonine Meditasjoner - Monotonine Meditations]”, contains ten pieces that were recorded through the first six months of the year 2004. This album is currently out of stock, but Jardardottir intends to do a reprint of it in future. The tracks on the CD can be found for listening on the site at the Melatonin tracks page.


Current work:

The main body of work at this stage is circling around sound treatment of the material for the CD series “Intimate Imperfections – Compilation of work and research #1, #2, and #3” (recorded 2004 – 2006) and the initial CD, “Waves of Air and Seasons through Me” (recorded in January 2006), of the series “Private Imperfections” as well as fundraising for the printing of the CDs. In combination with this Jardardottir is doing research on how to promote the “Private Imperfections” series as a product under the slogan “Art Heals” with specific aims at presenting the series as an alternative aid for people with difficulties falling asleep or sleeping or in other ways entering and sustaining a resting or focused state of being. Additionally, as result of the music’s womblike comforting and flowing, watery characteristics Maria is also presently researching the potential of promoting this CD-series towards pregnant women and/or parents with very young babies for therapeutic calming and meditative aid. This first CD will be released in a small print up in on the 3rd of May 2006 and the income from this initial print up will be directly invested in funding for doing a larger print up. More about the series “Private Imperfections”...