Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Qupperneq 45

pinning and pointing all over the in-
visible Iceland.
Come September Jófríður plans
on attending Háskóli Íslands, pursu-
ing a degree in computer science. Ás-
laug is taking a three-month travelling
hiatus, beginning in Moscow and end-
ing, well, she doesn't quite know. And
Þórður, he'll be "hanging out in the
cafés, drinking coffee and smoking
cigarettes," the girls say, teasing him.
But there's very little "down" in their
respective downtimes. I ask them if
they'll be taking a break while Áslaug
is away. "No, no, no, no," Jófríður said
insistently. "Þórður and I are going
to continue to meet and work on our
music, so when she comes back we
can keep moving." They've already
recorded a second record, which they
hope to release early next year.
Dairy free deconstruction
We arrive in a single-file formation
back at Sway and neatly line up our
vehicles against the building. Bright
orange helmets are shed to reveal
wind-whipped tangles and replaced
on the orderly safety shelf. Jófríður
suggests grabbing a waffle cone
around the corner at Valdís, one of
Reykjavík's newest and finest ice
cream shops. She is excited because
they serve vegan ice cream. "You're
vegan?" I ask. "Kind of" she replies.
In light of the recent un-develop-
ment of music venues around Reyk-
javík, I am curious about the band's
favourite places to play. "Harpa is
nice, and Volta has a great sound sys-
tem," Jófríður said between licks of
Apelsín sorbet. "Hemmi og Valdi was
a favourite, really small and intimate."
Dissatisfied by their apathy toward
Hemmi's closure I start to prod, "what
about Faktorý?" They see where I'm
going with this and just laugh. "We've
played Faktorý too many times, we're
sick of it." They're not unsympathetic.
They just have a different take. "It's
sad that they're closing these places,
but there will be more," Þórður ex-
plained, "it will definitely be weird for
a while, but then something else will
take its place. Who knows, it could be
some really cool, obscure new venue.
You never know. People need to be
more optimistic."
Just another day in the life
When all that's left of our devoured
cones are the napkins they were
wrapped in, we unpeel ourselves
from our claimed stretch of sidewalk
and begin strolling back toward 101.
Þórður's phone rings and after a quick
exchange in Icelandic he hands the
phone to Áslaug, "It's your mom." Ás-
laug holds a concise mother-daugh-
ter exchange, hangs up and mounts
her bike. "Dinner's ready!" she says.
"We're having soup." With that they
divide and conquer their respective
corners of Reykjavík. Jófríður gets a
phone call and moments later a white
car pulls up across the road to retrieve
her. Þórður heads back to the studio
where he had emerged from earlier in
the day to come Segway, and Áslaug
rides home toward her patient bowl
of soup.
“We try really hard to stay grounded. If
you know what you want it's easy to go
for it. But if you don't know, it's really
easy to let things get out of control. We're
so young, we don't even know what we
want yet; how can they!”
45 Date
EXPERIENCE MIDNIGHT
From 1. July - 15. August we are open till midnight!
Book your ticket
online & save
time for relaxing
The National Museum of Iceland
celebrates its 150th anniversary 2013.
Along with the permanent exhibition that features
Iceland’s history from settlement to present day the
museum will offer a variety of exhibitions during the
year, e.g. on Icelandic silver and photography.
Opening hours:
Summer (1. May-15. September): Daily 10-17
Winter (16. September-30. April): Tuesday-Sunday 11-17
Suðurgata 41, 101 Reykjavík.
tel: 530 2200 Thjodminjasafn@thjodminjasafn.is