Calder formed in Iceland when musical instrument maker Lárus Sigur-sson and _lafur Josephsson, who is perhaps best known for his recordings under the alias Stafrænn Hákon, met and decided to join forces.

Their first collaborations resulted in self-titled five-track album of improvised, experimental instrumentals that was released through _lafur's Vogor Recordings and later picked up by UK indie Unlabel.

Lárus' background is in classical music, having played with various Icelandic musicians and self-released a handful of solo recordings.

His recent album Jar-hörpusálmar was improvised and recorded using musical instruments that he had designed and built himself.

_lafur Josephsson has been experimenting with ambient guitar arrangements under the name Stafrænn Hákon since 1999.

He has released his music through various labels including his own Vogor Recordings, the Resonant Label and Awkward Silence Recordings, with the music progressing and becoming increasingly refined since his debut album Eignas Jeppa in 2001.

After the creative success of Calder's debut, a second album was conceived in 2005 when Lárus and _lafur started exchanging ideas, shaping and moulding their music, with the material composed in a truly collaborative way - Lárus handed _lafur acoustic melodic ideas and _lafur added electronic elements, with tracks gradually acquired shape, depth and life.

With this new music, melody, structure and beats have come more to the fore, although the beautiful and haunting guitar atmospherics are still evident, running like a thread through the album.

2008 saw the completion of this process and the resulting album has been entitled Lower.