The Halldorophone on The Knife's Tomorrow, in a Year
Tomorrow, in a Year is a studio album by The Knife in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, released on February 1, 2010 on Rabid Records. The album is the studio recording of music originally commissioned by the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma for an opera based on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Hildur Guðnadóttir appears as a credited performer, playing halldorophone on two tracks and cello on three.
The Album
The opera was completed in 2009 to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and toured Europe in 2010. The music was composed to reflect the long arc of evolution: the earliest tracks are harsh and minimal, with subsequent pieces building in complexity, beauty, and layered vocal texture. Lyrics draw from Darwin's own writings, including passages on seed dispersal and the death of his daughter Annie.
The album was recorded across Berlin, Stockholm, and Copenhagen between 2008 and 2009. Live percussion was recorded at Sounds Studio in Iceland; outdoor sounds were recorded at the Mamori Artlab Workshop on the Amazon River, Brazil. The full project was mixed and mastered by Rashad Becker.
The album reached number 10 on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart and received a 10/10 from Drowned in Sound.
The Instrument
The halldorophone is an electroacoustic string instrument built around the deliberate use of audio feedback. It was designed and built by Halldór Úlfarsson, who first developed it as his MFA graduation piece at what is now Aalto University in Helsinki in 2008.
The instrument has eight strings: four main strings played with a bow and four sympathetic strings that resonate through the feedback system. Each string has a dedicated pickup. The signals are fed back through a speaker mounted inside the instrument body, creating a closed loop of mechanical vibration. The player shapes the resulting sound through bow technique and gain control, producing sustained, harmonically dense drones well suited to the opera's vast temporal scope.
Hildur Guðnadóttir's Contributions
Guðnadóttir is credited on the following tracks (using the album's disc and track numbering):
- Halldorophone: tracks 1.6 and 2.3
- Cello: tracks 2.1, 2.3, and 2.7
The Knife and Mt. Sims are additionally credited with halldorophone re-editing on the same tracks (1.6 and 2.3), indicating the recorded material was further shaped in post-production.
Credits (selected)
- The Knife — engineering, live percussion re-editing, mixing, production; halldorophone re-editing (1.6, 2.3); vocals (1.8, 2.3, 2.7)
- Mt. Sims — engineering, live percussion re-editing, mixing, production; halldorophone re-editing (1.6, 2.3); vocals (1.7, 1.8, 2.5)
- Planningtorock — engineering, live percussion re-editing, mixing, production; vocals (1.7, 1.8)
- Hildur Guðnadóttir — halldorophone (1.6, 2.3); cello (2.1, 2.3, 2.7)
- Kristina Wahlin — vocals
- Lærke Winther — vocals
- Jonathan Johansson — vocals
- Hjörleifur Jónsson — drums, live percussion
- Rashad Becker — mastering
- Released February 1, 2010 on Rabid Records
Further Reading
- Tomorrow, in a Year — Wikipedia
- The Knife — Wikipedia
- Halldorophone — Wikipedia
- Bela Blog Interview with Halldór Úlfarsson (2025)