I usually don’t like listening to singles. I prefer to put on an album and let it run. But mostly thanks to the Reykjavik Grapevine I’ve stumbled across a few emerging Icelandic artists who only seem to have a song or two posted online. And I’ve liked what I heard enough to make a note of it.
K.óla
The stage name of Katrín Helga Ólafsdóttir is K.óla. I discovered her music in the Reykjavik Grapevine. The track ” Ég vil finna fyrir þér” reminded me how much I love the Icelandic language and made me pick up (yet again) my online Icelandic practice.
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Eydis Evensen
A lot of contemporary classical music is ugly and off-putting in its attempt to be significant and innovative. But post-classical composer Eydis Evensen knows that sometimes what the world really needs is more pretty music with piano and strings. “Stormasamt Kvöld” is exactly what the world needs, and I can’t wait to hear her full album.
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Vofa
This self-titled debut track by an anonymous collective of Icelandic underground artists is promising enough to hope for a full album later. And at 12 minutes long, it almost counts as an EP. It has all the hallmarks that draw me to Icelandic music – a sort of otherworldly quality, a sense of pacing that lets the notes breathe, a surface beauty that shimmers over something more dangerous. And in Vofa‘s case, some doomy growls like a hot, moist breeze escaping the path you don’t choose in a deep cave.
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Kaleo
For a while it seemed like bluesy rockers Kaleo were everywhere you looked. And then they weren’t. I’d almost forgotten about them when Grapevine reported that they had two new singles out. I liked them both, and according to their webpage, they may have a new album, Surface Sounds, out by the time this post goes live. That’s good, because I want more.
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Olafur Arnalds & RY X
I had never heard of RY X before, but I will always click through when I see Olafur Arnalds’ name. They only collaborated on this one song, “Oceans,” but I liked it enough to look up RY X and check out his other stuff.
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Gus Gus
Another Icelandic band I used to really like then accidentally lost track of is Gus Gus. (I only just realized they share the name of the fat mouse in Disney’s Cinderella when I googled them for this post.) They released “Out of Place” in March and it’s simultaneously so ’80s synthy retro and that shiny darkness that is nearly endemic to Icelandic music.
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