Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Page 70

Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Page 70
16 Wunderkind Jófrí!ur Ákadóttir has the unaffected calm (and charm) you might expect from someone who, at 19, is already a veteran of the Icelandic music scene. Having won the decisive Icelandic Battle of the Bands no less than twice—once at age 14 with girlband Pascal Pi- non and again in 2011 with three- some Samaris—Jófrí!ur seems poised to take on bigger and bigger stages. We met with Jófrí!ur to discuss the two sides of the indie band coin, standing up for the grassroots, and how to survive yet another Airwaves. Samaris recently signed to One Lit- tle Indian Records in the UK, while Pascal Pinon is signed to Morr Mu- sic in Berlin. Practically speaking, is there much of a difference in the way the two bands are managed? Absolutely. I’ve experienced two very dif- ferent sides to this business. In Pascal Pinon we don’t have an agent, we don’t have a big production around us—except for our label, which is quite established in Germany. We have a booking agent but besides that we’re in charge of all manage- ment stuff ourselves. And that’s very nice, to have control over everything... all our finances, all releases, all artwork. But that also means we have to spend much more time on it. In Samaris, I only have to be respon- sible for this [points to herself]. I’m just in charge of a specific, small part and then there are a lot of other things that some- one else is in charge of. And that is both good and bad—like, say, when all of a sud- den a single is released and I’ve never even seen the artwork... let alone know there was going to be a single. I find that very uncomfortable. Was it deliberate to split it up that way or did Samaris just break through in a different way? Completely unplanned. The way I expe- rienced it I always thought Samaris was far more likely to break through, though; it just was much more happening at the time. It started going very well, very quick- ly. But I mean I wasn’t really thinking too much about it either. We’re not plotting all that much. Quite the opposite. Now you have people plotting on your behalf. That’s the thing! And I’m not ashamed of having some kind of management. You don’t have to be indie through-and- through in order to be cool. Tender Is The Night This will be your fifth Airwaves. What advice do you have for local bands playing their first festival? All the bands who are starting out could do with slowing down a bit. You know, there comes another Airwaves after this Airwaves. And if you play your cards right you will be in it. It’s not the most impor- tant thing in the world. At least not from my experience. Do you get the sense that it’s almost as important to play off-venue than on- at this point? If it’s well organised. But there are a lot of things wrong with this off-venue concept. All these companies are taking advantage of the grassroots, a little bit, just by seeing that everyone’s eager to play and using it to their advantage. It’s not clear exactly who is helping whom. I think these com- panies should do more for the bands. In the end it’s sort of their ethical responsi- bility to pay them. I’m not saying that I’m not going to play off-venue, you know, I am, and it’s very fun. But there’s this way of thinking that should be torn down—I think that bands should just say: OK, this is a concert and I’m going to charge a cer- tain fee, just like with any other concert, instead of these weird, unwritten rules. It’s important to be careful because it always piles up. You don’t realise it until suddenly... I think we played 12 times [at Airwaves] last year! On The Viewless Wings Of Poesy How important is poetry to your music? I know you and Áslaug [of Samaris] took part the local Poetry Slam last year. And there certainly is something quite haunting, and very poetic, about your lyrics. I write poetry. And I write all the Pascal Pinon lyrics, or most of them anyway. I also really enjoy taking poetry from books. Especially Romantic poetry. This old Romantic style is so well suited for us [in Samaris], because the words are both avant-garde and they have this emphasis and this flow. It becomes incredibly fun to sing them, and to compose to them. We’ve been doing this for the past two years, col- lecting poetry. And sometimes we take things that already exist and write new music to it. So there is no real emphasis on the lyrics as a separate entity, then. You don’t put the text in the liner notes and expect people to read it like poetry. No, not yet anyway. We’ve interpreted it in such a way that the singing has just become a new instrument. You really sing through the clarinet. Áslaug [in Sa- maris] and I both studied clarinet for ten years, and it’s funny to work with her in this context because we’ve been through this schooling together and held hands through it and so I know a lot about how it is to be a clarinet player. And the last part of that musical education involved a lot of interpretation of the instrument, singing into it. And it works both ways, I guess, be- cause I start to sing as though I was play- ing the clarinet. It’s a good harmony. Was It A Vision? Or A Waking Dream? Having gotten into music at such a young age, and still being in the band you started when you were a preteen, you must still be go- ing through a lot of phases, and changes, musically. How has your attitude towards these projects changed? When we started Pascal Pinon, there was this element of having the courage to per- form. It was terribly difficult, but in a way it was beautiful, also. We were four girls, then, making music, totally immersed in our own adorable world. And I’ve been a bit hard on that project... we had this hor- rible out-of-tune guitar, and played all these concerts where everything was in total chaos. But I really appreciate it now, looking back. Our record, also, was a total mess, just the most lo-fi home-recording trash you can find. But actually I really like it now. You were 14 then. When we started the band, yeah. We were 15 when we released the album ourselves. That’s part of what led to the other girls quitting the band, leaving just me and my sister, Ásthildur. It was incredibly tense having our own release, 15 years old, and we had no idea what we were doing. Still, you know, it all worked out... I was always walking into 12 Tónar with more and more copies of the album and stuff like that. But it was very hard. I remember our first concert was, just, intense. We played at some community centre and we didn’t have the courage to stand so we sat but there weren’t any chairs so we sat on the floor and were just singing but there were no microphones. But then in the end ev- eryone was incredibly pleased. They loved it and we got so much good feedback. And then it became easier. I am so glad that I just went ahead and did it. No Hungry Generations Tread Thee Down It’s a big step, taking yourself seri- ously as an artist, this... unveiling. It’s dangerous, too. I mean, I’m 19. I’m not paying bills or renting an apartment or having to support any offspring. I’m just doing some stuff for myself and enjoying it. I think it’s important that I don’t start suffering from the seriousness of life just yet. I guess it’s important to the extent that it enables you to concentrate on what you are doing to the ex- clusion of other things. To be able to prioritise music, for example. That step of taking oneself seri- ously often seems more difficult, somehow, for girls. Admitting to the world that you see yourself as an artist. Yes, absolutely. That is very true. I’m ac- tually relieved to have done it right away. And I don’t know exactly what the im- petus was. Maybe I wasn’t thinking too much about it. I just didn’t want to wait, I didn’t want to be like ‘oh, I’m so small I’m not going to show them my songs, I’m not going to do this or that.’ If I was starting out in music now it would probably be very difficult, perhaps even more difficult. But it’s important not to stop and think about things too much, and not put yourself too much into context. I think I’m in the place I am today as a result. You have to start somewhere. Exactly. And not hesitate to do so, whether you’re 15 or 100. THURSDAY + FRIDAY ISSUE 16 — 2013GRAPEVINE AIRWAVES Jófrí!ur Ákadóttir soars on the wings of poesy —Words by Valger!ur "óroddsdóttir Who: Pascal Pinon Where: Harpa Kaldalón When: Friday, November 1 at 21:40. Do you have a fashion idol? There’s nobody in particular, al- though I have gone through my phases. When I was a kid it was Captain Hook and then as a teen- ager it was hippy culture, which I’m actually still pretty into de- spite some adaptations. I tend to get really excited about things and these days it’s decorative shirts, especially ones with the paisley pattern. It reminds me of both cells and shooting stars, which can be interpreted in many ways. I really enjoy having it on me. Which would you prefer, living in a city and never seeing the ocean or living your whole life on a boat? I think I’d prefer the boat. Seasick- ness is at least not a problem for me. I rewatched the great movie ‘Legend of 1900’ the other day and that might explain my choice. Have you had a stalker? Not that I know of… Do you find it easier to express yourself in lyrics or through music? I just like expressing myself in general. With Ojba Rasta it’s usu- ally the lyrics that follow the mu- sic, but I don’t think one is better than the other. Lyrics and music can work so well together. Oth- erwise, 99% of everything that I have done musically has been lyrics-free. Sometimes the music needs lyrics. Sometimes not, be- cause a word can make the music vortex around the word. Other times, things can’t be said with words. Everything is different. What are you trying to get across when you combine the two? It is impossible to explain here. It’s a symbiosis. People have to listen to the music and form their own experiences and observa- tions. I’ve put everything into this and I mean what I produce. My subjects matter a lot to me and I make big demands on myself re- garding what I produce. To make music and to release it is a bit like screaming into the future in some way and then it echoes forward. So one has to be careful about choos- ing what to scream. What’s impor- tant in life? Who am I? Isn’t the existential crisis largely propel- ling one forward? How do you free the words in your poems from their mean- ing, if that is even something that you strive to do? The Icelandic language is full of wormholes that allow ambigu- ity to f lourish. Changing just one word can send everything into a different direction. Ambiguity can add meaning and new ways of experiencing the same thing. This relativity makes it an excit- ing area. That is, when things are not lost in translation, but rather found. How do you go about creating meaning in the music that you make? In some way you could say that I strive to create meaning by taking on things that I believe are impor- tant and doing that with sincerity. People also have to listen to the music though. But when people listen to the music, then it can be- come meaningful. Who: Samaris Where: Gamla Bíó When: Thursday, October 31 at 22:40. Axel Sigur!arson

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