Music For My Friends
The first Icelandic musician I liked wasn’t Björk. In all honesty I’m still not really familiar with her work. No, the first Icelandic musician to hit my radar was Sigur Rós. Namely their song Starálfur from the The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Soundtrack. Oddly enough this coincided with my facination with Iceland in general.
Calling out all the music from particular country is somewhat silly. I mean, what is common in ‘American Music?’ Johnny Cash, Brittney Spears, and Philip Glass? But as I listen to it, much Icelandic music shares a sense of magic and wonder, even if I can’t understand what their singing about.
So here a collection of
Icelandic Music
Sigur Rós
Ágaetis Byrjun (1999) All of their albums are great, but this is where you should start. This is the album that had Pitchfork claim that “they are the first vital band of the 21st Century.”
My favorite is “Staralfur” or “Ágaetis Byrjun”.
múm
Summer Make Good (2004) After the ethereal quality of Sigur Ros, múm has a rougher, more urban sound, but they could definitely sit in the same rotation. Call it experiemental, electronica, or glitch, I don’t know and don’t really care.
Check out “Weeping Rock, Rock” and “Nightly Cares”.
Ólöf Arnalds
Við og við (2007) Ms. Arnalds was/is a member of múm, but her debut album bears almost no resemblence. She sings in Icelandic, so I can’t help with what the songs mean, but they are fantastic. [I previously featured Ólöf Arnalds in MFMF Around World 5 Albums, which I will now shamelessly copy] Ms. Arnalds is Icelandic and perpetuates the notion that Icelandic musicians are weird (Sigur Rós, Björk, Múm). These lovely minimalist folk songs are almost always just her voice and her spectacular finger picking (guiter and charango).
I really can’t pick one or two favorite tracks, but here’s some samples from YouTube. “Klara” , “Vittu Af Me´r” or “Í Nýju Húsi”.
Lay Low
Farewell Good Night’s Sleep (2009) Lay Low is the stage name of Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir. (So we’ll call her Lay Low, alright?) The songs are a country/folk/blues/jazz managerie. She has some of the breathy voice of Ólöf Arnalds or Björk, but I put Lay Low in the same category as Loretta Lyne or Patsy Cline.
Lend your ear to “By and By” and “Last Time Around”.
Seabear and Sin Fang Bous
The Ghost That Carried Us Away (2007)
Clangour (2009)
I debated about putting these two together because Sin Fang Bous is the solo project of Seabear frontman Sindri Mar Sigfusson. It might be folk-pop with glitch thrown in for good measure. Seabear/Sin Fang Bous is Iceland’s answer to Sufjan Stevens and frankly I think I prefer the former. Sin fang Bous also sounds similar to Radical Face (an American one-man group I’d call folk-pop/glitch).
For Seabear check out “Seashell”, “Arms” (here’s a live version which is really nice) and “Hands Remember”
Sin Fang Bous shines on “Clangour and Flutes”, “Advent in ives garden” and Sinkership. (I couldn’t find a video but it’s my favorite track.)
Sprengjuhöllin
Bestu Kveðjur (2008) & Sprengjuhöllin (2008) Another double-shot here. First of all sprengjuhöllin translates as “Palace of Explosions”–which is just awesome. Sprengjuhöllin has tastes of 60s pop, psychedelic rock, and I maybe a hint of New Wave from time to time. Several songs remind me of the Beatles. The Self titled album has a roungh sound (in a good way) but suffers from being all over the place stylistically. Bestu Kveðjur, on the other hand, is more focused, more ambitious, and more produced. Sprengjuhöllin smashes the fairy/nature/trippy stereotype of Icelandic music. They ROCK.
Highlights from Sprengjuhöllin include “Worry Til Spring” (the only song in English), “Glúmur”. I couldn’t find more decent videos, check out the samples linked above. These guys are great.
