"Ben Frost (born 1980) is an Australian composer and producer. He is based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Frost composes minimalist, instrumental and experimental music, with influences ranging from classical minimalism to punk rock and black metal.
His albums include: Steel Wound (2003), School of Emotional Engineering (as part of the band School of Emotional Engineering) (2004), Theory of Machines (2007), By The Throat (2009), Sólaris (with Daníel Bjarnason) (2011), and Aurora (2014). He has collaborated with contemporary dance companies Chunky Move, the Icelandic Dance Company and the British choreographer Wayne McGregor. He composed the music for Wayne McGregor's 2010 work FAR.
Frost co-composed with Daníel Bjarnason, Music for Solaris, which was inspired by both Stanislaw Lem's original novel and the 1972 Tarkovsky film Solaris. Commissioned by Unsound Festival, it was performed by Frost, Bjarnason and Sinfonietta Cracovia. He composed the music for the films, Sleeping Beauty, the Icelandic drama The Deep and the 2015 British television series Fortitude. In 2012 he travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Richard Mosse, along with Trevor Tweeten and John Holten, to score the sound for Mosse's artwork The Enclave.
In 2013, in his first directorial role, he premiered a critically acclaimed music-theatre adaptation of the Iain Banks novel The Wasp Factory." wiki
Albums
Steel Wound - Room40 2003 Theory Of Machines - Bedroom Community 2006 By The Throat - Bedroom Community 2009 The Invisibles (8xFile, MP3, Album, 320) Amnesty International none 2010 Ben Frost & Daníel Bjarnason - Sólaris - Bedroom Community 2011 F A R (9xFile, MP3, Album, 320) Not On Label (Ben Frost Self-released) none 2013 Black Marrow (7xFile, FLAC) Not On Label (Ben Frost Self-released) none 2013 A U R O R A - Bedroom Community, Mute 2014
Singles & EPs
Music For Sad Children (CDr, EP, Ltd) Not On Label (Ben Frost Self-released) none 2001 Untitled EP (7", EP, Ltd, Num) Inventing Zero Records IZR 701 2002 Bora Yoon + Ben Frost - The Journal Of Popular Noise Vol. 1 Issue 8 (7", EP, Ltd, Num) Journal Of Popular Noise JPN108 2008 Past Lives / Bora Yoon & Ben Frost / Na + Junko - Journal Of Popular Noise Vol. 1 Issues 7-9 (3x7", Ltd) Journal Of Popular Noise JPN107, JPN108, JPN109 2008 Richard Mosse - Ben Frost - The Enclave (7", EP, Ltd, Gre) Aperture Foundation RMBF001 2012 Sleeping Beauty (7xFile, MP3, EP, 320) Not On Label (Ben Frost Self-released) none 2013 Variant - Mute, Bedroom Community 2014
DJ Mixes
Ben Frost Has No Business DJing (File, MP3, Mixed, 320) FACT Magazine FACT 235 2011
Videos
Ben Frost / Valgeir Sigurðsson / Nico Muhly / Sam Amidon - Everything Everywhere All The Time / Whale Watching Tour (2xDVD, Ltd, vac) Bedroom Community HVALUR 14DVD 2013
Miscellaneous
Lawrence English & Ben Frost - Anyone Can Play.... Anyone Can Sing.... (2xFile, MP3, 128) Dreamland Recordings DLNET020 2004 Rare Decay (File, MP3, 320) Not On Label (Ben Frost Self-released) none 2015
7 No Sorrowing 04:27 8 Sola Fide 06:27 9 A Single Point Of Blinding Light 03:17
Japanese Bonus Track
10 Rare Decay 06:37
Credits Art Direction – Ben Frost, Heimir Sverrisson Design [Design Production By] – Mika Tohmon Executive-Producer [Production Executed By] – Ben Frost, Daniel Rejmer, Paul Corley, Valgeir Sigurðsson Mixed By [Additional Mixing] – Daniel Rejmer Mixed By, Mastered By – Ben Frost, Valgeir Sigurðsson Other [Explosives Assisted By] – Adrian Libeyre Ramirez, Auður Ómarsdóttir, Lucy Wilson Other [Explosives By] – Eddi The Bomb Performer [With] – Greg Fox, Shahzad Ismaily, Thor Harris Performer, Written-By [All Songs By] – Ben Frost Photography By – Richard Mosse, Trevor Tweeten, Valgeir Sigurðsson Recorded By – Ben Frost, Daniel Rejmer, Paul Corley, Paul Evans Recorded By [Assisted By] – Adrian Libeyre Ramirez, Alexander Overington, Emanuele Porcinai, Jonathan Kawchuk Sound Designer [Additional Sound Designs], Producer [Post Production] – Lawrence English, Tim Hecker Sound Designer [Sound Production Design] – Daniel Rejmer
01. We Don't Need Other Worlds, We Need Mirrors 02. Simulacra I 03. Simulacra II 04. Snow 05. Reyja 06. Cruel Miracles 07. Hydrogen Sulfide 08. Unbreakable Silence 09. You Mean More To Me Than Any Scientific Truth 10. Saccades 11. Venia
Quote
Performed by Ben Frost & Daníel Bjarnason with Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Sinfonietta Cracovia: Maciej Lulek, Małgorzata Szuba-Kmiecik, Marcin Kmiecik, Aleksandra Honcel, Katarzyna Blajda, Marcin Hałat, Izabela Szlachta-Dowgiałło, Piotr Marciak, Robert Milewski, Danuta Brandys, Justyna Duda-Krane, Danuta Augustyn, Lilianna Adamska, Stanisław Słowiński, Ewa Szczepańska-Chwast, Aneta Dumanowska, Ryszard Sneka, Rafał Daszkiewicz, Żanna Laszkiewicz, Jan Tomala, Tomasz Wyroba, Alina Dorożyńska, Marcin Mączyński, Jan Kalinowski, Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska, Piotr Bylica, Michał Skiba, Grzegorz Klimczak, Jakub Strycharz, Ryszard Haba, Tomasz Sobaniec.
1. Autoclave 2. Enlightenment (Hold Onto Me) 3. Stocks And Stones 4. Sinew / Bone 5. Light / Shadow 6. Forceps 7. In Flesh And Blood 8. Soma And Psyche 9. After Death, Nothing Is
Of Heat 1. Flex 2. Nolan 3. The Teeth Behind Kisses Of Light 4. Secant 5. Diphenyl Oxalate 6. Venter Of The Sun 7. No Sorrowing 8. Sola Fide 9. A Single Point Of Blinding Light Japanese Bonus Track 10. Rare Decay
01. Threshold Of Faith 02. A Sharp Blow In Passing 03. Trauma Theory 04. A Single Hellfire Missile Costs $100,000 05. Eurydice's Heel 06. Meg Ryan Eyez 07. Ionia 08. Healthcare 09. All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated 10. Entropy In Blue
Ben Frost has announced details of his fifth studio album, The Centre Cannot Hold, out on 29 September 2017.
The Centre Cannot Hold was recorded over ten days by Steve Albini in Chicago. The music exists not in space, but in a space; it is a document of an event, of a room, and of the composer within it. It is music that is not fully controlled and appears to be anxiously, often violently competing against its creator.
An exercise in limitation and chromatic saturation, The Centre Cannot Hold is an attempt at transcribing a spectrum of glowing ultramarine into sound.
Watch the video for Threshold Of Faith, the opening cut from the new album, a new collaboration shot in the winter of 2016 in Reykjavík, Iceland with conceptual documentary photographer Richard Mosse and Cinematographer Trevor Tweeten: po.st/BFThresholdVideo
Ben Frost released Threshold Of Faith, a seven-track 12” and digital EP, last month. Pitchfork describe the track title track as “moving from heroic vistas into a garbled, snow-blinded melee. Distant choral pads, a glistening upper-register sheen, submerged piano, and groaning harmonies all stack up into a geologic crescendo that extends into infinity.” while The 405 describe the EP as “scorching and beautiful”.
Label: Bedroom Community – HVALUR006CD Format: 10 × File, MP3, Album, 320 kbps Country: Iceland Released: 05 Nov 2010 Genre: Electronic, Stage & Screen Style: Soundtrack, Drone, Ambient
Tracklist
1 Killshot 6:11 2 The Carpathians 2:57 3 O God Protect Me 2:55 4 Híbakúsja 7:25 5 Peter Venkman Pt I 4:29 6 Peter Venkman Pt II 5:05 7 Leo Needs A New Pair Of Shoes 7:04 8 Through The Glass Of The Roof 1:35 9 Through The Roof Of Your Mouth 4:34 10 Through The Mouth Of Your Eye 2:48
Credits Concept By – Ben Frost, Sruli Recht Design – Rebeca Méndez Double Bass [Upright Bass] – Borgar Magnason Effects [Sound Design & Additional Processes] – Lawrence English Management – Mio Þórisson Percussion – Jeremy Gara (tracks: 11), Paul Corley Photography By [By The Throat] – Bjarni Gríms Photography By [The Binding Of Isaac] – Sruli Recht Piano [Prepared] – Nico Muhly (tracks: 4), Paul Corley Programmed By [Additional] – David Lettelier (tracks: 11), Paul Corley Sounds [Recordings Of Orcas] – Heike I Vester Technician [Instrument Building], Engineer – Paul Corley Written-By, Producer – Ben Frost
Notes This recording was produced almost in its entirety within the walls of Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavík, Iceland. Geenhouse is managed by Mio Þórisson.
"Killshot", "Through The Glass Of The Roof" and "Through The Roof Of Your Mouth" contain raw material from "The Will To Burn" and "The Lycanthrope" from the album "Son Of Sulphur" by Crowpath. Used with permission.
This recording contains various recordings of orcas off the coast of Henningsvaer, Norway.
Valgeir Sigurðsson, Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly appear courtesy of Bedroom Community. Lawrence English appears courtesy of Room40.
Ben Frost uses software by Ableton and native instruments.
"By The Throat" was photographed at Huldaheims, Dalvik, Iceland.
Influence upon this recording by Sruli Recht, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Lawrence English, Nico Muhly and Paul Corley cannot be overstated. Particular gratitude is directed also to my family, Tim Hecker, Daniel Rejmer, Sam Amidon, Laurent Briet, Andrew Kotatko, Rebeca Méndez + Adam Eeuwens, RVK!, Amiina, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Mio, Paul Evans, Sigga Sunna and Danny "Liner-Notes" Johnson.
...For Hooch
Issued in a gatefold cardboard sleeve including a 10 pages booklet.
Ben Frost — Under Certain Light And Atmospheric Conditions (2025)
Label: Mute – STUMM503 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: USA & Europe Released: Mar 1, 2024 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: Experimental, Ambient, Abstract
Design – Form und Konzept Featuring – Greg Kubacki, Liam Andrews Management – Toby Donnelly Mastered By – Christian Wright Performer, Music By – Ben Frost Producer – Paul Corley, Tim Hecker, Will Gardiner* Producer [Live] – Carlos Boix Recorded By – Ingo Krauss
Includes poster insert.
Ben Frost presents his first studio album in six years, Scope Neglect, via Mute. Available January 11th on limited edition white vinyl, followed by black vinyl, CD, and digital formats on March 1st. In the sonic crucible of Ben Frost's Scope Neglect, music undergoes a metamorphic alchemy. From the album’s opening seconds, the familiar aural chemistry of metal is immediately untethered, isolated in the vacuum, stripped of its cultural trappings and heavy armory, and loaded into a particle accelerator. Where Scope Neglect leans sonically into metal - fuelled by progressive metal outfit Car Bomb’s guitarist Greg Kubacki and bassist Liam Andrews of fellow Australians My Disco - its true form seems to draw more upon the transcendental reveries of the West Coast minimalists. What at first appears confrontational, and ephemeral, is meditatively and methodically unfolded through time, revealing crystalline vulnerabilities.
Frost’s titles weave narratives of cycling, perpetual attempts at ignition, math, and mythology; ‘Tritium Bath’, ‘Lamb Shift’, ‘Chimera’... The slow burn of ‘Unreal in the Eyes of the Dead’ channels the disorienting writings of author W.G Sebald, whose own work often gives the impression of being only the faint, flickering shadow of its actual referent.
Similarly, this genre-defying music seems to feed on an unseen dark matter. Detached from their native surroundings, guitar shapes roar through negative spaces whose dimension is only revealed through the shadows cast upon them. What remains is the outer scaffolding of structures long since dismantled, and which we can no longer see. What Frost wants us to hear, in other words, is frequently not what he wants us to feel. Scope Neglect is a deliberate opposition in terms; a dualistic game of obfuscation and obliteration, mechanics reconfigured and reengineered, old energies diverted and redirected, scope expanded, contracted and dissolved.
