Skarnheim is a cinematic ritual ambient/dark folk project exploring memory, transformation and inner landscapes. Created in Spain, the project blends atmospheric sound, intimate voices, organic textures, photography and symbolic visual storytelling. Each release forms part of The Path Through Rupture, a wider ritual journey rather than a collection of isolated songs, shaped by silence, half-spoken thoughts, fragments of memory and slow transformation.
With “Helvegr” out now, we took some time to hear from Skarnheim. Read below to learn more about Skarnheim, the story behind “Helvegr,” and what’s to come.
Hi Skarnheim! Let’s start with how did you choose your artist name?
The name, Skarnheim, came from two words that felt very physical to me. “Heim” suggests home, world or place, while “skarn” has something rough and earthy about it: dirt, residue, matter, something left on the ground.
I liked that contrast because the project itself is very immersive and subjective. The songs move through memory, visions and inner landscapes, so I wanted the name to be something solid, almost crude, to hold on to.
A bit like the object a lucid dreamer uses to check whether they are awake or dreaming, the name works as an anchor. It keeps Skarnheim tied to stone, earth and body.
What city are you from, and where are you based now?
I was born in Granada, in southern Spain, between snow-covered mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. That contrast has always stayed with me: different landscapes, cultures and histories existing very close to each other.
I am currently based in Madrid. I have also lived and worked in places like Japan, the United States and the Caribbean, which gave me a wide mix of sounds, images and experiences.
At what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in music? How did you get started?
I don’t think there was one clear moment when I decided to “pursue a career in music” in the traditional sense. Music had always been close to me: my father loved flamenco, later I became very interested in new age and atmospheric music, and through my wife, who is an opera singer, I also discovered a much wider and deeper musical world.
What was always there, though, was storytelling. I have always written, imagined worlds and built stories, usually somewhere between music, literature and visual images. In recent years, new creative tools finally made it possible for me to bring those parts together: writing, music, voice, atmosphere and photography. Skarnheim began there; not as a conventional music career, but as a way to tell stories through sound.
How would you describe your sound?
I would describe Skarnheim as cinematic ritual ambient/dark folk, but for me, the sound is less about genre and more about creating a state of mind. The music is slow, atmospheric and introspective. It is meant to create a small inner journey, something that pulls the listener inward rather than pushing outward.
Silence is very important in that process. So are drones, whispers, subtle layers, intimate voices and small details that may not be obvious at first. I want the music to feel like it is guiding you slowly, almost like a ritual or a memory returning. The words matter a lot too, sometimes as much as the sounds. For me, Skarnheim is about atmosphere, trance, reflection and the feeling of understanding something that was already there.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? What do you do to stay creative?
Yes, probably too many. I read a lot, I write, and I spend a lot of time walking or exercising in the forest. That helps me put my head in order. Many ideas, decisions and connections appear there, while walking, far away from screens.
I’m also slightly obsessed with hydroponic gardening. I’m always building or improving small systems, and I have an automated vegetable garden at home that gives me a surprising amount of vegetables. I also love cooking. All those things may seem far from music, but for me they are connected: writing, walking, growing food and cooking all involve patience, observation, rhythm and creativity.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
Some obvious references would be Wardruna, Heilung, SKÁLD, Forndom, Eivør, Myrkur and Kalandra. I’m attracted to music that feels ancient, physical and atmospheric, where the voice works almost like a ritual element, not just a melody.
I’m also influenced by soundtrack music, minimalism and artists such as Kronos Quartet. I like music that creates images, tension and silence without explaining everything. Skarnheim is not trying to imitate those artists, but they all connect with something important to me: atmosphere, repetition, voice, memory and emotional weight.
What would be your dream music collaboration?
If I had to name one artist, I would probably say Eivør. It is obviously a dream answer, but I deeply admire the way she moves between intimacy, power, tradition, experimentation and atmosphere without losing emotional depth.
For Skarnheim, a collaboration like that would not be about making something big or spectacular. It would be about creating a restrained, cinematic and emotionally heavy piece, where voice, silence and atmosphere carry most of the meaning.
What’s one of the proudest moments of your music career so far?
If I can call it a music career yet, one of the proudest moments has been watching Skarnheim slowly come to life. I worked on the project very carefully for months, and seeing the songs, images, story and atmosphere finally fall into place has meant a lot to me.
I’m not really chasing fame or massive success. I want to make the project real and do it properly. If this strange, hard-to-classify music connects with a few people and says something to them, that already feels like a very meaningful achievement.
What would you say are the greatest lessons that you’ve learned so far?
The greatest lesson so far is simple: pay attention and stay humble. Most important things do not arrive with a big sign; they appear in small details, in people, in mistakes and in coincidences.
I think peace is not about escaping the world, but about being more honestly connected to it.
Now onto your release, “Helvegr.” What inspired this song?
“Helvegr” was inspired by the final step of the first Skarnheim cycle. It closes this first journey, although the project itself is meant to keep expanding beyond it. But I don’t see that ending as a clean liberation or a heroic victory. It is more about learning how to keep walking after you have faced your own darkness.
The song lives in that moment after rupture, when nothing is fully healed and the demons have not disappeared, but you are no longer running from them. You carry them, you understand them a little better, and you keep moving.
What was the inspiration behind the cover artwork for “Helvegr?”
The cover artwork was inspired by the idea of a path at the edge of transformation. I wanted it to feel open, but not completely peaceful: there is distance, light and landscape, but also solitude.
For me, “Helvegr” is not about a heroic arrival. It is about being small in front of something larger and still choosing to keep walking. I wanted the cover to feel cold, cinematic and almost like a still from a film.
What was the creative process like when making “Helvegr?”
The creative process for “Helvegr” began with the story. I knew this song had to close the first Skarnheim cycle, so I was not trying to write a “big ending” in a heroic sense. I wanted something quieter: a final step, a tired body still walking, a moment after rupture where nothing is fully solved but something inside has changed.
From there, I built the sound around space, intimate vocals, slow movement and small acoustic details. I tried to leave room for silence, because silence is very important in Skarnheim. The difficult part was finding the right balance: the song had to feel like an ending, but also like a threshold. Not a victory, not a defeat… more like the will to keep moving.
How long did it take to complete “Helvegr?”
If I include the whole process around it, “Helvegr” took about ten months. Much of that time was spent building the story, defining the chapters and making sure every piece of the first Skarnheim cycle connected without losing its own identity.
The song itself came later, once the larger puzzle had started to make sense. It was not a linear process: I stopped, returned to it, changed sounds, adjusted lyrics and kept refining it until it finally felt like the right ending.
What do you hope fans take away from “Helvegr” and your music in general?
I hope listeners pay attention to the lyrics, the silences and the small details. In Skarnheim, everything is connected or, maybe and more accurately, nothing was ever truly disconnected. The songs, images and symbols are different doors into the same inner landscape.
With “Helvegr,” I hope people allow the music to take them inward. It may be a peaceful journey, or it may be darker and more turbulent. But if someone comes out of it feeling a little more aware, a little more connected to themselves, or a little more coherent inside, then the song has done what it needed to do.
What’s next? Are you working on any upcoming projects, or do you have any upcoming shows that we should be on the lookout for?
Skarnheim is still a small and developing project, so there are no live shows announced at the moment. If that happens in the future, I imagine it more as an audiovisual ritual experience than a conventional concert.
The next main step is the full album, The Path Through Rupture, planned for mid-August. It will include eight tracks, three of them still unreleased.
I’m also working on Echoes of the Rite, a companion release made from alternate versions and ideas I didn’t want to leave behind, and I’m slowly developing a short film connected to the first Skarnheim cycle. The second album is already mostly defined conceptually, with early ideas for a third one further ahead.
Where can we follow you on social media?
The best places to follow Skarnheim are Instagram and YouTube, where I share new music, visual pieces and updates on the wider project.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skarnheim.music
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@skarnheim
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skarnheim
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skarnheim.music
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/026ESsieuKyNG5MLg8R8CL
“Helvegr” links: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/skarnheim/helvegr
Thank you for the great interview; wish you much continued success!
