Elif Yalvaç - My Heart of Noise DL

My Heart Of Noise is the first album created by UK-based Turkish musician Elif Yalvaç for the Icelandic label Möller Records. It builds on the music and travels that led to her creating Mountains Become Stepping Stones (NNA Tapes, 2020) with the collaborative composition approach of Green Drift (Expert Sleepers, 2022).

Why ‘My Heart Of Noise’? Elif: “I hear music everywhere: in natural sounds, in electronic sounds, mechanical sounds. I want to capture and shape it so others can hear what I hear and experience what I feel. I’ve spent the last years trying to make sense of a noisy world. My heart is also noisy, but slowly I learn to listen to it better. And in this new music, I found that I became its ‘heart of noise’, through meeting and inviting collaborators from across the Nordic countries, bringing their works together coherently, and finding an emotional centre.”

My Heart of Noise “began with a collection of studio and concert recordings from my travels north before the pandemic. It became like a puzzle: I could hear something special, but also that the pieces didn’t fit together well or feel complete. The breakthrough came in realising that this project was meant to be more about creation than preservation, and that it didn’t need to be a literal document any more. It could still be faithful, but instead to the spirit that inspired this music and my travels in the first place, instead of a particular recording. I created new musical starting points, and invited artists I met on my travels plus others, asking them to choose one to begin to work with together. Some artists incorporated our previous recordings, others set off in a new direction, while I shaped the pieces and found a way to connect them together.”

“There’s a tension in music, as in any creative activity: between wanting to document and reflect the times we live in, or to escape and hide from them. In this music I’ve tried to find a balance between both of these, and in doing so, to listen to my heart.”

Born and raised in Turkey, Elif (née Hazal Elif Yalvaç) grew up surrounded by a wide range of music. At an early age, she was fascinated as much by sound as by music, and she picked up the guitar. 

Elif earned her masters in Sonic Arts from Istanbul Technical University (MIAM). She has presented compositions and performed internationally. Her debut EP CloudScapes was self-released in July 2016, and her debut LP, L’appel du Vide, was released by UK label Curated Doom in November 2018. Her album Mountains Become Stepping Stones was released by the USA-based label NNA Tapes on December 4, 2020. The album received international acclaim, including reviews on the Guardian, The Wire, and Electronic Sound Magazine UK. Her album Green Drift was released on September 23, 2022 with Expert Sleepers, a modular synth company and label, getting a feature on Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone. Her latest album is out with the Icelandic label Möller Records on March 23, 2023.

Alongside her solo projects, she collaborates with others particularly including Darkroom, and Moving Furniture Records. She leads her experimental rock project Diaries of Destruction with Michael Bearpark and Arber, guesting Bryan Beller.

Elif’s compositions embrace opposites: microsound glitches and slow builds; celestial beauty and abrasive energy. Her songs are created using a vast array of instruments, including guitar, synthesizers, and Game Boy, as well as her own software sound design tools and field recordings. Inspired by computer game audio, Elif extensively studied chip music as part of her master’s thesis, entitled “Creating Music ‘Inside The Box’: Do Chiptune’s Limitations Have Aesthetic and Creative Value?”.

Endorsed by Arts Council England, Elif Yalvaç is based in the UK with a Global Talent Visa. She currently performs regularly and works on her music releases and teaches electronic and produced music at GSMD, while delivering workshops on her music research around the UK.