Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.06.2011, Síða 27

27
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2011 ‘The Miners’ Hymns’ soundtrack was released on May 23 in Europe,
but you’ll have to wait until June 20 to buy the DVD.
Music | Interview
The Foreigner’s Prerogative
A Conversation with Jóhann Jóhannsson
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So who the frak is Jóhann Jóhanns-
son? He’s an accomplished Icelandic
musician, a self-taught composer with
seven solo albums and seven movie
soundtracks under his belt, as well
as having been a member of several
successful Icelandic bands, including
HAM, Lhooq, Unun, Evil Madness and
Apparat Organ Quartet. He has most re-
cently completed his eighth full-length
solo album, the audio half of a collab-
orative work with acclaimed American
indie filmmaker Bill Morrison. We spoke
to him about the film and found him to
be a calm, erudite and soft-spoken man
in his early forties. Read on for specula-
tions and comments on cathedrals, be-
ing foreign and Margaret Thatcher.
You don’t live in Iceland anymore,
right?
That’s right. I live in Copenhagen.
For a while, I take it?
I’ve been there… five years now.
Working in music?
Yes, uh…
In what capacity?
I make my own solo albums, film and
theatre soundtracks and all kinds of
side projects. Bands, Apparat and oth-
ers, but the focus has definitely been on
my own solo stuff. A lot of my time has
gone into movie soundtracks lately.
Anything you’re particularly proud
of?
I’ve got ‘Miners’ Hymns’ coming out at
the end of May. It’s an entirely musical
film, that is to say there’s no dialogue,
just music. The music was written be-
fore the film, and footage edited to
be in time with the score. It was a far
more collaborative effort than most
film soundtracks, where the music is
written afterwards to compliment the
film. It’s great to be involved from the
very beginning like that; it’s very rare
for that to happen.
Yeah, I was going to ask you about
that Bill Morrison project, how it
started. So it started with your mu-
sic?
We were asked to collaborate by Dur-
ham International Festival, the British
Film Institute and (multi-format pro-
duction agency) Forma. They called us
and asked if we wanted to do some-
thing together, something concerned
with archival footage from coal mines,
and anything related with the North-
ern English coal industry and the cul-
ture surrounding it. I was most excited
about getting involved with the brass.
There’s a rich brass culture in the Eng-
lish industrial North; every town has its
own brass band manned by local coal
miners. It’s a tradition that dates back
two-hundred-plus years. The mines
were, of course, closed in the 1980s af-
ter the General Strikes; Thatcher closed
them all…
…the whole ‘union-buster’ thing…
…right. This was very traumatising for
the entire region, causing deep rifts
in the society due to unemployment,
but the brass bands are still there. The
piece, ‘Miners’ Hymns’, is a sort of re-
quiem for that entire culture. Well, of
course, the people are still alive…
…it’s a requiem for a civilization.
Yes. It’s a requiem for an industry, for an
entire way of life. It’s also an homage, a
celebration.
There was never a question of
utilising anything other than brass,
then?
Yes… but the cathedral also has a huge
organ that I was very excited to use, and
I mixed it with a whole lot of electron-
ics, synths and guitars and such. I loved
the idea of filling this ancient gothic
cathedral with massive guitars. I actu-
ally made use of some of the archival
reels Bill [Morrison] used for the film,
all those documentaries and newsreels
he found in the British Film Institute
and local archives. They’re mostly at-
mospheric sounds from the mines that I
spliced into the electronic sounds.
How did the premiere go? What did
the locals think?
There were two shows. The church was
packed for both of them, largely with
people who are deeply connected to
the material. It was very… emotional.
People liked it. There were a great
many senior citizens there, people who
would probably never go to a Jóhann
Jóhannsson concert. It pleased me
greatly to receive praise from these
people. It was very moving, especially in
light of the responsibility [Bill Morrison
and I] were shouldering. We’re foreign-
ers, both of us…
…yes, I was just going to ask you,
because you’re Icelandic and he’s
American…
…exactly. It was something we talked
about a lot, coming from abroad to cov-
er a very sensitive subject. The closing
of the mines, and all that. Thatcher is,
of course, much despised in the region,
still…
…uh…
…heh. Right. As she is in other plac-
es... but it’s a very emotional, very sore
subject there. In fact, any time you
address a topic integral to a society
not your own, something you’re not
personally familiar, it is important to
approach it with respect, modesty, a
certain amount of humility. I was very
conscious of that, but the logic behind
[Forma & BFI’s] decision when they
asked us to do this is perfectly sound:
that any British artist would be too
close to the issue to address with any
modicum of detachment; he would too
quickly become entrenched in his opin-
ion. Maybe it’s something only a for-
eigner can address.
SINDRI ELDON
MAROESJKA LAVIGNE