Arin Aksberg - solskinn (2026) [Hi-Res]

Utilizing piano, synths & processing, twenty-six-year-old Norwegian Arin Aksberg's SOLSKINN is the sound of longing for something while inexorably moving toward it. Rather than pushing the listener forward, the sparse, sensitive ambient drone gently carries one through darkness towards light. Granular textures create friction and motion, while harmonic elements provide a sense of direction.

“SOLSKINN means sunlight,” Arin reflects. “It refers to the light and warmth from the sun. I decided to use Norwegian titles as they are simple, soft and universal while grounded to my location and identity. Norwegian titles, I feel, speak more directly from my heart.”

The tracks often move through a dense force: a storm or a gravitational field that resists movement yet slowly gives way. Some of the tracks, including the title piece “solskinn," use reversed elements that draw the listener forward. They function less as momentum and more as attraction; quiet forces lead the music towards brightness. "That's how the track and album got its name,” Arin says, "It's not reaching for the sun, but it's being drawn toward it.” On the track “glød," a simple piano acts as a guide through a noisy, low-end-heavy soundscape, dissolving into a floating, weightless state.

"The music for SOLSKINN was created throughout 2025. Towards the end of the year, as the polar night started to surround me, the course of the music emerged as a quiet response to darkness and stillness. The album gradually shaped itself into a kind of tribute or ritual around the sun. The focus is on texture, atmosphere and slow transformation. I've fallen in love with granular sound design; I felt that fits perfectly with the way sunlight and solar radiations both work and sound. Everyone will at some point feel surrounded by darkness, and this album could be seen as a guiding energy, leading one out into the light again. The Sun/Sol may in this case also be a symbol of brighter times, and that in the end both warmth and luster will return from the horizon."