There is a sacred captivation present in the Pacific Northwest felt by many of those who call this corner of the world home: The powerful vastness of landscape, the diversity of the region’s flora and fauna, and the evergreen presence of water. It’s the birds of the Pacific Northwest that have captured the heart and ear of Portland’s Patricia Wolf—an ambient musician who has traversed the bioregion, field recording everything around her: birds, water, wind, the very landscape itself. A mountainous undertaking that might be daunting if not for Wolf’s deep love of the natural world. 

It’s her crystal clear passion for nature, birds specifically, that made Wolf the ideal choice to score Hrafnamynd—a feature length documentary by Portland experimental filmmaker Edward Pack Davee. The documentary itself chronicles the years Davee spent living in Iceland as a child. Wolf’s score subtly breathes in perfect time with the film, incorporating field recordings she collected on a trip to Iceland for that very purpose. 

When asked about the importance of field recording to the project, Wolf states, “When I was working on the sound for the film I brought recording equipment [to Iceland] knowing that Icelandic people would be watching Hrafnamynd.” Nature, voices, cathedral bells, the terrain itself sounds different from place to place—to even the untrained ear Pacific Northwest background sound is going to sound out of place in an Icelandic documentary. 

Released last year, the film Hrafnamynd, Icelandic for “raven film,” is framed through slides taken from the Davee family archives, featuring stills of his mother, father, brother, and himself, along with shots of Icelandic mountains, their Volkswagen Beetle, a whale slaughter, and birds—ravens especially. 

Known for their intelligence and hereditary memories, the raven has been celebrated by Indigenous cultures the world over as tricksters and heralds since time immemorial. It’s their hereditary memories and omnipresence in Iceland that captivated Davee—spurring he, Wolf, and the viewer into question memory, both collective and singular. 

Though the film has been released and will soon be toured around the Pacific Northwest and Europe, the physical release of Wolf’s score is slated for July 11 via Barcelona’s Balmat Records. As a standalone work, Hrafnamynd the score—Wolf’s first ever film score—sees the experimental traditions of her past works continued: Field recordings, unexpected textures, and self-imposed limitations come together on the score bearing collaborative fruit able only to grow in soil rich with curiosity and trust. 

Without the context of the film, Hrafnamynd the score is given the expansive freedom of interpretation. Who is Krimmi and why does their theme feature lush nylon-stringed guitar? How does one surf on wind? Will you really take care of me? Wolf doesn’t answer any of these questions per se, rather she offers a container to place thoughts, emotions, and memories in—allowing the listener respite from whatever ails them. 

Composed largely using a new-to-her UDO Super 6 synthesizer, Wolf allowed herself to learn the nuanced intricacies of the machine while scoring the film. The learning process Wolf was going through with the new synth lent a natural playfulness to her compositions. “It brought a caring, sensitive, childlike feeling to certain parts [of the score], capturing that wonder and curiosity—emotions you feel when encountering unfamiliar things,” Wolf says of trying to build a sonic world around the images and narrative of Davee’s film with the new instrument. 

Because the score is being released as a stand alone piece of art, the mixing and sound design Wolf did for the film won’t be wholly present on the album, releasing the compositions into the atmosphere as fully formed works. Listening to the record before watching the documentary may allow the listener to form a relationship with the Hrafnamynd sonics before adding the visual and narrative layers of the project into the experience.

Patricia Wolf’s Hrafnamynd will be released on July 11 via Balmat Records. Wolf will be playing alongside several screenings of Hrafnamynd in Oregon, including July 8 at Art House in Eugene, July 9 at Holocene in Portland, and July 12 at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in the Dalles. Both Wolf and Davee will be in attendance at all screenings and performances.