Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.06.2010, Qupperneq 32

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07 — 2010
Music | Interview
Singapore Sling are one of the finer constants of
Icelandic music. Throughout the last decade, the
band has consistently released stunning music
and played jaw-dropping, death-affirming shows
while maintaining a pure and icy cool exterior of
the sort that’s been inspiring young kids to start
rock bands since way before those were even
invented. Icelandic music owes a large debt to
Sling, their leader Henrik Björnsson and his pat-
ented brand of nihilistic deathgaze—without them
the last decade (and our current scene) would be
a lot different. And it would suck a lot harder.
You maybe won’t know this if you’ve just arrived
in Iceland. In fact, these days Iceland is sorely missing
some Singapore Sling in it, some Henrik in it. Oh, we’ve
got our Seabears and our FM Belfasts and our Diktas
and whatnot, they are all fine and unique bands that
enrich our community. But none of them are Singapore
Sling. None of them have that unique Slingness, the
one that can make you feel at once invincible, invisible
and tall as a mountain. All due respect, no other local
band is as stubborn, uncompromising and full of righ-
teous attitude as the Sling.
Nothing was heard from the Singapore Sling camp
for a long while, and we started getting all sad and wist-
ful. Imagine our surprise, then, when out of the blue,
Henrik pops up at the Grapevine offices early last De-
cember, bearing two CDs packed with new, excellent
music. One of them featured a project he made with
his spouse, Elsa María Blöndal, called Go-Go Darkness.
The other one was the long-awaited Hank & Tank long-
player, an album that has been eagerly anticipated for
the last seven years or so.
Both albums kick ass, and you should get them.
Since Henrik was at our office, we used the opportunity
to ask him a few questions about what’s going on with
him and within the Singapore Sling camp. The below is
a transcript of our conversation, which happened six
months ago.
you have been noticeably absent from the Reyk-
javík music scene as of late. What gives?
Last September I had a serious accident. After the hos-
pital I spent a long time in rehabilitation. It’s been a long
and anti-social road to recovery since.
Then you out of the blue popped up with two de-
cidedly awesome releases to your name, Go-Go
darkness and Hank & Tank. Again: What gives?
The Go-Go Darkness was ready last summer. We were
going to release it in the fall, but we obviously had to
wait a bit. Hank & Tank was recorded years ago but
mixed and mastered last summer. Both these records
were ready, and having them manufactured didn’t take
much effort.
Tell us about Hank & Tank... we hear it's been a
looooong time in the making...
Well, it was mostly written before the first Singapore
Sling record was released, and recorded shortly before
the second one (as I recall), so I guess it was recorded
in 2004. One of them strange years. Tank left Singapore
Sling and we didn’t communicate for some time. Of
course we wanted to put these songs out, so after an-
other long time of wondering how and where to mix the
record and how to release it, we decided to do every-
thing ourselves. For some reason we did this last year.
Now tell us about Go-Go darkness. This is a col-
laboration with your spouse, right? It's a lot less
sonically removed from Singapore Sling than H&T
are—why the side-project? Wouldn't these have
been perfectly good Sling songs?
No they wouldn’t. This is my and Elsa’s project and
never meant to be anything else. I have used drum ma-
chine and organ in Singapore Sling, as well as Elsa’s
voice, but not in this measure... if there’s other sonic
similarities between The Go-Go Darkness and Singa-
pore Sling I guess it’s because both are very close to
my heart and soul, and I am the producer. Also I am a
person who makes music and I like doing different proj-
ects. I don’t consider them side-projects, just projects.
Dead Skeletons is yet another one...
How is collaborating with your spouse working
out for you?
It’s been mostly Heaven.
The creative arguments must be that much more
weighty...
There are no creative arguments.
you have been a fixture of the Reykjavík music
scene for a long time. Would you care to reflect
on how it has changed or evolved since you first
started making your voice and jagged guitar
heard? Are any of these changes positive or neg-
ative in your opinion, and if so, how so?
Hell I don’t know... I don’t pay much attention. But it
seems like there’s always some crap that people just
love to swallow. But that’s universal. The majority is aw-
ful, the minority is great. The same as it was in the be-
ginning of the millennium. The same as it’s always been.
What are some of your favourite local acts oper-
ating at this point, and why?
Kid Twist are my absolute favourite band. They have an
awesome noisy surfy sound. They don’t belong to any
scene. I also enjoyed the one show I saw with Skelkur í
Bringu. I like seeing and hearing new bands who are in
their own world doing their own thing. Then there’s all-
time favourites like Evil Madness and The Bang Gang...
What is missing from Reykjavík music, if any-
thing?
Reykjavík music is a little busy being Reykjavík music.
Either it wants to be very serious or it wants to be a joke.
It needs more guts maybe... more rock’n’roll.
Looking back upon your entire career—which is
full of accomplishments, great albums and excel-
lent concerts—do you have any regrets? Anything
you wish you would have done differently?
Well, yes, of course there are things. Like awful con-
tracts. Well... mainly that. I am happy with all the re-
cords. And a lot of the gigs have been great.
Why are all of your songs so sad and/or de-
tached?
Most things I do not care about, but the things I care
about tend to make me sad. But sadness is very im-
portant and underrated. Beauty doesn’t exist without
sadness. As for detached... The world can be such a
horrible FM place and can really get me down, so I like
to detach myself from it every chance I get.

A word of advice?
Don’t trust white people.
Reykjavík Needs Henrik
Björnsson And His Music
And so do the rest of y’all
Music | Live Review
The Icelandic Opera is a strange little room. It’s
a stripped-down, baroque-style hall with creaky
seats and clattering doors. Every tiny sound—
from the worst coughing fit to someone folding
their concert ticket into origami—is as naturally
amplified as the five musicians sitting onstage.
Doing their best to set a serene atmosphere. The
gentle sounds of Ólafur Arnalds’ piano and his
string quartet are mostly overshadowed by every
movement of every person in the hall.
As for Ólafur himself, he looks rather tired.
He seems somewhat apprehensive and appears to
be approaching the songs with an air of trepida-
tion. As he greets the audience, thanking them
and making humorous banter, he retains an air
of constraint and shyness. His string players as
well, while performing with demure gracefulness,
seem to be feeling some leftover exhaustion from
the two-week album launch tour they have just re-
turned from. They all look like they could use a
good long nap.
Nevertheless, the music itself does sound love-
ly. The songs from the new album ‘... and they have
escaped the weight of darkness’ f low beautifully
together, weaving from one to the other seamless-
ly. The only dividing indicators are the crafty use
of spotlighting on each musician as they join the
melody. The lighting is also a strong manipulator
to the listener’s senses, leading one between vari-
ous moods and emotional states as they listen to
the music being played. Along with the very subtle
set decoration of two giant bird mobiles hovering
over the musicians, it is easy to find oneself star-
ing off into the beams of light and forgetting the
band entirely.
A Good, Long Nap
ólafur Arnalds Album Release Concert
Icelandic Opera, May 27th 2010
“As for Ólafur himself, he looks
rather tired. He seems somewhat
apprehensive and appears to be
approaching the songs with an
air of trepidation.”
REBECCA LOUdER
HöSKULdUR HöSKULdSSON
HAUKUR S. MAGNúSSON
PROMOTIONAL PICTURE
The band pictured is the very awesome Go-Go Darkness, and the photo-
graph depicts Henrik Björnsson along with his spouse Elsa María Blöndal. It
is one of at least three Henrik-bands that are talked about in this article.