Softenings for 7 Flutes (2024) is a work by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, commissioned and premiered by the Icelandic flute ensemble viibra. Here, ‘softening’ is explored as a means of destabilising categorisation and boundary-making, proposing the flute body and the human body not as separate entities, but as wobbly bodies in a continuous state of osmosis.

The piece is in four movements named after the four winds of Greek myth. On side A, Boreas, Eurus and Notus are played on piccolos; side B is given entirely to Zephyrus, almost fourteen minutes for flutes. viibra are Berglind María Tómasdóttir, Björg Brjánsdóttir, Dagný Marinósdóttir, Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir, Sólveig Magnúsdóttir, Steinunn Vala Pálsdóttir and Þuríður Jónsdóttir, a septet that has worked extensively with Björk. Recorded at Koncertkirken in Copenhagen on 1 June 2024 by John Fomsgaard, mixed and mastered by August Wanngren. The cover reproduces a drawing by the Danish artist Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908).

World premiere recording. Limited vinyl edition of 200 copies, with MP3 download code.