Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.07.2013, Page 50

50The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 10 — 2013
Icelandic
Doppelgängers
Words by Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson – Photos by Lemúrinn
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of the D
ay
Neil Young is from Winnipeg, Canada, where many Iceland-
ers settled. Is he a descendant of Helgi Thordersen (1794–
1867), who was the Bishop of Iceland and a politician?
Despite his looks, Guttormur Vigfússon (1850–1928) was just
another Icelandic farmer and Member of Parliament, and
had nothing to do with train robberies in the Wild West. But
can we still make a film about him, please? Meet the actor
who will portray him: Mexican badass and former jailbird
Danny Trejo.
Grímur Thomsen (1820–1896) was a gifted poet of the ro-
mantic era and a Member of Parliament. Perhaps someone
like Steven Spielberg could make a film about his life? Irish
actor Cillian Murphy is perfect for the leading role.
Jón Pétursson, editor and a Member of Parliament (1812–
1896), and Karl Marx (1818–1883) were look-alikes and of the
same generation. A meeting between those two would have
been surreal.
Doppelgängers are a mystery. Why does Russian President Vladimir Putin totally look like the
Italian merchant Arnolfini in the haunting masterpiece by Jan van Eyck, painted in 1434? And
how did Saddam Hussein find the look-alikes that he allegedly employed as his stand-ins? We set
out to find look-alikes of Icelandic people, and this is what we found.
The group Bárujárn is a strange beast indeed,
a dark surf rock group with a twist; their tunes
feature the rarely used, sci-fi sounding ther-
emin. After a long hiatus, the band has finally
released their self-titled debut LP, and we’re
happy to say that it makes for an exciting listen-
ing experience. It starts with the sound of the
ocean, before the twanging guitars chime in,
underscored by low key theremin hiss. It’s like
The Shadows with a darker shade of sunglass-
es playing in the nighttime on a black sanded
Icelandic beach. Leader Sindri’s guitar playing
on the album is excellent, and lyrics and song-
writing are also top notch. Recommended.
Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson from the Reykjavík
electro-pop band FM Belfast just released a
new song, “Empire,” under his PlúsEinn moni-
ker. Árni wrote, produced, performed, mixed
and mastered the song himself at his home
studio in Reykja vík. The song sounds a bit like
a darker version of one of FM Belfast’s first
singles, “Underwear,” in a really good way!
Check out Árni on his Sound Cloud page, www.
soundcloud.com /plus einn, for more feisty
tunes. “This is my empire, take it easy now.”
This man is clearly in the empire business!
In other Árni related news, Árni Guðjónsson,
Of Monsters and Men’s former keyboard
player, has founded a new band called Blóð-
berg. The members of Blóðberg have been
working on a EP last three months, which is
slated for release this fall. Their first single,
“Óskir” (“Wishes”) is currently streaming on
their SoundCloud page, www.soundcloud.
com/blodbergband. The music is of the ‘atmo-
spheric dance-oriented elctro pop’ kind, and
features a strong hook.
Straum.is has been active since last summer,
with writers Óli Dóri and Davíð Roach docu-
menting the local music scene and helping
people discover the best new music. It is asso-
ciated with the radio show Straumur on X977,
which airs every Monday evening at 23:00.
By Óli Dóri and Davíð
Roach Gunnarsson
Strange Beasts
Bárujárn And
Árni-related News