Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2011, Side 27

27
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2011 hat Donald Gíslason sure has diverse tastes! Last issue
he was all like, "DUDAMEL RULES!" Now he's all like "I
WANT ME SOME SKÚLI SVERRISSON!" It's cool.
Heraclitus Would Have Loved It
Sóley and Skúli Sverrisson play Fríkirkjan
Music | Live
Two contrasting modes of mixing
music and visual imagery were on
offer at RIFF’s film-concert of Skúli
Sverrisson and Sóley (Sóley Ste-
fánsdóttir) at Fríkirkjan on Septem-
ber 28.
Sóley, a frequent collaborator of Sea-
bear’s Sindri Már Sigfússon, stood in
a pool of light at centre stage in front
of projected photos and video of tran-
quil landscapes and ocean water by
[Sindri’s partner and frequent col-
laborator] Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir. She
accompanied herself on guitar or key-
board, aided by the odd rhythmic ruffle
from her tastefully discreet drummer,
in self-composed songs of consider-
able charm. This was a concert set,
with filmic backdrop, that made few de-
mands on its audience’s attention and
succeeded with ease in showcasing the
talents of a new solo performer on the
Icelandic musical scene. Particularly
effective was Sóley’s use of loop pedals
to create her own Owen-Pallett-esque
back-up choir.
The performance of New-York-
based jazz musician and composer
Skúli Sverrisson was of a different or-
der entirely, as was the film that it ac-
companied. Seated modestly in the
shadows at the back of the stage, he
delivered a live performance of a score
that served and enriched its visual sub-
ject matter in the most intimate way.
This should be no surprise as he col-
laborated with the filmmaker at every
step in the years-long effort required to
produce the film.
Jennifer Reeve’s critically acclaimed
experimental film ‘When It Was Blue’
(2008) is a double-projection montage
(combined into a single print for this
screening) of two visual layers—one
hand-painted, the other naturally-shot
footage treated in various ways, each
created on 16mm film. Flickering or
fast-moving images of nature scenes,
some shot in Iceland, are presented
in four sections, representing the four
seasons. Leaves quiver, insects creep,
trees tower, and water flows past in
an evocation of the vibrant pulsing of
Nature. This is a film that the ancient
Greek philosopher Heraclitus—who
imagined the natural world in terms of
continuous motion and change—would
have loved.
The instrumentation used to reduce
for solo performance—what was origi-
nally a score for harmonium, organ,
clarinets & guitars—was ingenious: a
baritone guitar (combining the ranges
of the bass and standard guitar) and
a so-called “shortie” (12-string guitar,
sounding an octave higher), plus the
simplest of electronics: distortion, re-
verb and expression pedals.
Skúli’s texture of continuously arpeg-
giated, slowly changing harmonies
haunted the screen, with overtones
masking the attack of individual notes
so as to create a smooth, often shim-
mering sonic surface that complement-
ed the water imagery, in particular, ex-
tremely well.
But the length of the film, over an
hour, played against its obvious merits.
Its jiggly handheld camera work, high-
contrast images, and lack of narrative
arc risked creating a uniformity of ef-
fect that may have fatigued those less
keen on pre-Socratic philosophy who
deserted their balcony seats before the
film was over.
DONALD GíSLASON
DONALD GíSLASON
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