More than a decade after initial recording sessions began between Berlin and Belgium, Adam Wiltzie has completed Friendship Survival Guide, a final collaborative album with the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, slated for release on September 18 via Deutsche Grammophon.
Rescuing a Lost Archive from the Vault
The project preserves material tracked between 2013 and 2017, a period when Wiltzie and Jóhannsson balanced their experimental outlets alongside Hollywood scoring duties. The collaboration initially sparked after a 2007 chance meeting in Prague, where Jóhannsson introduced himself to Wiltzie following a Stars of the Lid performance. The pair quickly bonded over shared passions for tape loops, drone textures, and orchestral composition.
By 2013, while working remotely on the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, the musicians realized their independent audio experiments had evolved into a standalone body of work. However, Jóhannsson’s rise in the film industry—supercharged by a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination for that score, followed by another Oscar nomination for Arrival—forced the personal project onto the back burner before it was ultimately shelved following his unexpected death in 2018 at age 48.
“Our friendship is the story here — that one half of the duo is not around anymore, that he was a good friend of mine and I’m still dealing with his loss,” Wiltzie reflects on the completion of the tapes. “At the same time, it feels great to be finishing this music, because you can feel Jóhann’s presence. It’s this living, breathing thing — a beautiful reminder.”
Analog Preservation and Heavyweight Engineering
With the blessing of Jóhannsson’s family, Wiltzie returned to the original recordings to fulfill the composer’s vision of what they once described as “our own weird record.” Many of the analog tape loops remain untouched, preserving the sonic fingerprints left by longtime engineer Francesco Donadello using Jóhannsson’s Revox tape machines.
To flesh out the arrangements, new recording sessions took place between 2023 and 2025, enlisting electronic visionary Tim Hecker and composer Bryan Senti. The enterprise also stands as one of the final recordings featuring producer and engineer Steve Albini. According to Wiltzie, Albini “recorded, blasted and amped” many of the album’s guitar parts at his Chicago-based Electrical Audio studio prior to his own passing last year.
The resulting tracklist serves as both an elegy and a private cipher. The opening movement, “September Nineteen Sixty Nine,” marks the month both artists were born, arriving just two days and an entire ocean apart.
Transmedia Companion and Live Iterations
Accompanying the musical release is a three-part short film directed by Belgian director Jonas Govaerts. Starring Wiltzie alongside actor Jeroen Percevall, the visual component avoids traditional documentary tropes in favor of a metaphysical nocturnal taxi ride filmed across Ghent and a train station in Muizen, Belgium.
The arrival of Friendship Survival Guide coincides with a broader live celebration of Jóhannsson’s music. An orchestral program dedicated to his cinematic works—including selections from Prisoners, Arrival, Sicario, and The Theory of Everything—is scheduled for the Vancouver International Film Festival this October. Simultaneously, Wiltzie will hit the road for an autumn North American tour with A Winged Victory for the Sullen, with confirmed stops spanning Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Brooklyn.
As these archival compositions finally find daylight, they offer listeners a rare glimpse into a creative dialogue cut short by tragedy. How do you think collaborative art shifts in meaning when one of its creators is no longer here to witness its release? Share your thoughts below.
