Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2009, Page 33

mumtheband
Download the free track of the issue SING
ALONG (RADIO EDIT) at www.grapevine.is
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2009
17
been thrashed and no one has the
energy or will to start cleaning up. The
party people had these big ideas at one
time, but now everyone is just making
calls, trying to score more booze.

ÖÞS: Right now, the only issues that
are being discussed are the IMF
loan and the Icesave agreement.
How to score the next fix, to increase
our currency reserves. During
those days in January, I don’t think
anyone imagined that these were
the only things our society would be
emphasising.
-How should things have progressed
differently in your opinion?
ÖÞS: All that energy that was f loating
around at that time should have
been steered into more constructive
pathways. It should have been used
to write a new constitution and to
re-envision what sort of society we
want to build for the long run. A re-
imagining of what it is to be Iceland.
The only demand that was taken
seriously was that for an election, and
that kind of corked it.
GT: The problem is how late it all
happened. That revolution should
have happened two years earlier. One
of the problems was that when it
finally happened, we were in such a
ridiculous situation that the biggest
demand was just for it to stop. Right
away. There wasn’t a lot of room to try
and envision what should replace it.
-You guys aren’t very optimistic, I take
it?
ÖÞS: I am optimistic about life and
for humanity and all of us, but not
particularly when it comes to public
affairs in Iceland, cleaning up the
corruption etc.
AND THE MUSIC?
-Moving on to merrier subjects, we do
have a lot to be thankful for in Iceland,
not the least the awesome music scene
we enjoy and all the good people that
contribute to it...
ÖÞS: Exactly, that should be
celebrated. It’s great how many good
people there are making music and
trying their best to entertain and
surprise themselves and their friends.
GT: And the furthest thing from
anyone’s mind is making money or
making a living. I mean, getting paid
to play is excellent, everyone should
get paid. But you rarely do in the
Icelandic music scene, and no one
seems to mind. Folks are doing it for
the joy.
-A lot of international publications
actually contact the Grapevine to talk
about Iceland’s music scene, almost on
a daily basis. All of them are surprised
and impressed at the proficiency and
output of the Icelandic music scene;
they want to know why and how. We
sometimes tell them it’s because no
one gets paid, that people are in it for
different reasons...
ÖÞS: I think that’s definitely a
contributing factor to the atmosphere.
People seem to have different motives
than earning a paycheck.
GT: I agree. I believe musicians
and artists contribute greatly and
positively to Iceland’s image abroad,
and the country’s appeal to tourists
and travellers. They should get a tax
discount.
ÖÞS: A tax discount, hahaha.
GT: Why not? Almost no one in these
fields is making a decent living,
and the amount of positive publicity
a lot of them raise for Iceland is
invaluable. That contributes directly
to the country’s wealth. Whenever we
tour, we are interviewed numerous
times and we always have to answer a
million questions about the country.
I’d like to see any ambassador or
tourism spokesperson field as many
questions about visiting Iceland as
we do.
ÖÞS: But the feeling that we’re some
kind of tourism officers whenever we
tour abroad is still really depressing.
Working for the tourism propaganda
department.... it feels weird. I try and
slip in things about whaling or the
aluminium smelting plants, just to
clear my conscience.
-Still, you may have a point about the
tourism. This spring, we reported
on an American Express poll that
named Iceland one of the world’s ten
hottest travel destinations, especially
citing the local music scene as one of
the main reasons why. To quote the
poll: “"Iceland is the locale for those
in search of a vibrant music scene
with popular indie bands, punk rock,
electronic music and Icelandic folk
music acts.”
GT: Yeah. I guess this means we
should pour more money into
aluminium smelting plants. Go talk
to Rio Tinto. Talk to aluminium-assed
panty soilers. Lick their behinds.
That’s the only thing they think of...
MUSIC PALACE CONFERENCE
CENTRE
-You’ve been active in the local music
scene since 1995 at least. How do you
feel it’s evolved?
GT: It’s great. Just great. There’s so
much renewal going on all the time,
it’s encouraging and heart-warming to
watch these new kids with their new
bands and ideas and fun things come
forth every year.
ÖTS: A lot of people have been
expecting it to falter or fade away for
the longest time, since the nineties.
That a dry spell was in order. But it
keeps getting better. We have a very
healthy scene here.
GT: It’s sad, though, how little the
community or powers that be do to
encourage and nurture it. Reykjavík is
full of empty buildings at the moment,
yet acquiring a practice space is as
hard as always. There seems to be no
ambition to help these kids. We’ve
been playing in bands for over ten
years and getting access to rehearsal
spaces has never ever been easy, for
instance. The only time was when
Björgólfur [Guðmundsson, recently
bankrupt bankster] lent a building he
wasn’t using for Klink & Bank. It’s
difficult to understand why the city or
state don’t do anything to encourage
or support young musicians, maybe by
sponsoring a rehearsal space.
It’s actually sort of ridiculous
to think that this great treasure
of musicians and artists has been
growing in Iceland over the last 30
years and there’s no respect... nothing.
Not a nod from the powers that be.
Instead they build a ludicrous ‘Music
Palace.’
ÖÞS: Actually, it’s a conference
centre....
AND THAT NEW ALBUM
-Speaking of music, you guys are in
the process of releasing a new album,
Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know,
that’s pretty awesome by all accounts...
ÖÞS: Yes, it will launch on the 17th,
through gogoyoko. It will be available
exclusively through that store for the
first week, before it’s formally released
in Europe. We are excited about this
gogoyoko thing and thus decided
to pre-launch it there. It is a cool
initiative, they for instance give you
the option to easily donate some of the
proceeds of album sales to a charity
of your choice. We’ll be donating
ten percent of the retail price to
Refugees United, a remarkable charity
organisation that aims at reuniting
refugee families and loved ones that
have been separated. Learn about it at
www.refunite.org.
-You two have made up the core of
múm since its inception, but can you
tell us something about the current
line up?
GT: We think of anyone who’s ever
played with us as pat of the family,
even if they’re doing something
else at the moment. But the current
line-up is comprised of Örvar and I
along with Sigurlaug Gísladóttir, my
girlfriend [Mr. Silla and Mongoose,
The Gimmicks], guitar virtuoso
Róbert Reynisson [Mark Noseby,
Benni Hemm Hemm, Borko, etc],
percussionist Samuli Kosminen [Edea,
Kimmo Pohjonen Kluster], Hildur
Guðnadóttir [Lost in Hildurness,
Stórsveit Nix Noltes, Rúnk] and
trumpet player Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson
[Benni Hemm Hemm, Kira Kira,
Stórsveit Nix Noltes]. That’s the core
of the outfit right now, but others also
contributed to the new album. Folks
such as Högni Egilsson [of Hjaltalín],
who did some arranging for us.
These are all wonderful, brilliant
people. Geniuses. Writing and
performing music with them is a true
pleasure.
-What’s the album about then?
GT: We can’t answer that. It’s abstract.
No, that’s a hard question.
We love the new múm record so much we decided to stick ‘em on the
cover of our magazine. And that’s not all. The generous young men and
women of múm agreed to bestow upon you readers a free sneak-preview
track off their upcoming release, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know. It’s
a radio edit of the first single, Sing Along, it’s an awfully pleasant track that
gives good idea of what to expect from their sixth LP. It’s also fun to... sing
along to.
Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know will be pre-released at www.
gogoyoko.com, this coming Monday (August 17) where it will remain an
exclusive until August 24, when it’s unleashed on Europe.
múm
Sing Along (Radio Edit)
TRACK OF
THE ISSUE
Download your
free copy at
grapevine.is
MUSIC
& NIGHT
LIFE
The Galtarviti
Lighthouse
Project
Says Gunnar: We were looking for a
place to make some music, somewhere
out in the country. We’ve tried to
seek out new and different locations
when we record, as it breathes fresh
air into us and makes room for new
ideas. I heard from my brother that his
friend just bought a lighthouse in the
Westfjords, so we got in touch with
him and soon enough we’re hauling
boatloads of stuff to this abandoned
lighthouse on the corner of nowhere.
What we worked on there wound
up on the Finally We Are No One
LP. The place has been close to our
hearts ever since; we’ve gone there
to work on subsequent releases and I
often go there myself to work. I think
everyone who ventures there forges a
connection with the place and comes to
understand it, in a way you fall in love, it
takes a place in your heart.
Anyway, Óli Ísfjörð, the lighthouse
keeper, always had the idea that this
would be a place for creative people—
musicians, writers, artists—to work
on their projects; he has no ambitions
to turning it into a tourist destination
but would be happy to see more art
come to life there. But it hasn’t been
happening too much, maybe it’s the
remote location or maybe not enough
people have heard of it, so we decided
to embark upon this project.
Basically Óli had the idea of making
a compilation album to support
Galtarviti and publicise it, to get a
bunch of the artists that have been
working there to contribute songs
and sell it. The proceeds would go to
improving the facilities, working on the
roof or painting the house or whatnot.
This seemed like a good idea, but I
countered it with my own; that we
would bring a bunch of instruments to
the lighthouse, set up recording gear
and make our very own record there on
the spot. Basically to welcome everyone
to come there, play their stuff and
partake in a creative adventure with us.
We did this in the summer of 2008
and came home with a lot of material,
probably well over thirty tracks. We
decided to keep working on the project;
instead of mixing and releasing an
album immediately we would upload
the tracks to a web-site and give those
interested a chance to fiddle with
it—to mix or remix, sing over it, play the
accordion or write some lyrics. A sort of
communal creation, if you will. We are
going to let it ferment for the next few
months and then release an album with
the results.
We encourage everyone to partake
in working the materials. This is a great
cause, as well as a fun way to create
some nice music. And next summer,
we’re going to go back and record some
more, do it all over again. But for now,
you can and should access the tracks
and contribute by logging on to www.
galtarviti.illivill.com. It should be a grand
old time for anyone who’s interested, at
least I love messing about with tracks,
remixing and dithering about, that
whole Lego puzzle thing you do. HAUKUR S. MAGNÚSSON
HÖRÐUR SVEINSSON