Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.04.2014, Blaðsíða 2

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× 2014
April 4 - May 8
Issue 04
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MUSICHIGHLANDS ECONOMICS FILM CULTURE
ÍS
LA
N
D
G
EYSIRLA
N
D

60000
Straumur presents
you with five
spring bangers
Björk, Aronofsky
& Smith team up to
save them
Are all of our
currencies cursed?
Hross í Oss gets a
glowing review
Just how Icelandic
is the lopapeysa?
TRACK OF THE ISSUE
All isn’t quite right in paradise. On My bub-
ba’s new single, ‘Island,’ the soothing mari-
time baseline evokes the sound of gently
pounding surf, while a strumming guitar
conjures images of coral reefs and colour-
ful fish. The forlorn narrator, however, is too
busy crawling through cold seaweed and
walking barefoot over broken clamshells to
notice. She’s got a long-overdue apology
for a loved one on an island far away, but
the trip hasn’t been easy. The song’s central
conceit—that our desires make us vulner-
able at the most inopportune times, like
when we’d rather be relaxing with sun and
sand—exists as one with the song’s faraway
sounds. For more on the track, the album it
graces and the two lovely musicians who
brought it into existence, see page 22.
My bubba: “Island”
Download NOW at www.grapevine.is
2The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2014
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
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Published by Fröken ehf.
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Editor:
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Editorial | Anna Andersen
R.I.P. FREEDOM TO ROAM
Anna’s 39th Editorial
I moved to Ice-
land a little more
than four years
ago. I was just
here for a visit,
when I decided
to stay a few
extra months.
Then I got mixed
up in The Reyk-
javík Grapevine
and a few months turned into a year and a year
turned into a few more years.
That said, I had dreamt about living in Iceland
for as long as I could recall. Growing up in Cali-
fornia, I had the incredible fortune of spending a
month here every summer since, well, before I
was old enough to remember. It was always the
highlight of my year. Not only did I get to see my
wonderful extended family and brush up on my
Icelandic, but I also got to travel around this in-
credible country. Summer after summer I returned
from those trips with three or four disposable cam-
eras full of photos. I would rush to get them devel-
oped so that I could share the experience with my
friends, though the photos of course never did it
any justice. So you can imagine my delight when a
couple of my best friends finally made the trip.
Although it was 14 years ago now, their visit still
stands out quite vividly. We piled into a van marked
“Skutla,” which is not only the Icelandic word for
“minivan,” but also the word for “chick,” the like-
ness of which appeared on the side of the van,
waving cheerfully at the occasional car that passed
us on our way to all of the classic tourist spots. I
won’t soon forget when my friend mistook some-
body’s cabin for ‘the facilities’ on one our stops.
She simply walked in, used the toilet, and walked—
well, more like sprinted—out, laughing hysterically
at her mistake. The door had of course been un-
locked and the people inside hadn’t jumped at the
sound of a stranger breaking and entering.
Iceland has changed a lot since then, especially
in the last four years. We’re slated to get one million
tourists this year, which is three times the country’s
population. As Iceland has become a well-known
destination, I now find myself playing tour guide for
friends from out of town every other month. I no
longer take people to the classic spots, but there’s
still plenty to see and experience without being
surrounded by busloads of people. You can basi-
cally pull over on the side of any road and go ex-
plore the surroundings, which serves to remind me
again and again of what an amazing place Iceland
is—that, and the look of awe on my friends’ faces.
This is all about to change though. Last month,
landowners around Geysir started charging ad-
mission to the area, establishing a dangerous prec-
edent in Iceland. Others already plan to follow suit,
and if the trend continues, who’s to say that there
won’t be an army of Icelanders in onesie snowsuits
blocking entry to every waterfall, river and lake in
the country. Furthermore, the government is mov-
ing ahead with its plans to create a ‘Nature Pass,’
which suggests to me a future in which an army of
Icelanders wearing similar onesie snowsuits muck
about the land, popping in on your picnic to check
if you’ve paid to sit down in the State’s lava field.
If this is not technically against Iceland’s ‘Free-
dom to Roam’ law (which can be found in Swe-
den, Norway and Finland as well), it certainly goes
against its spirit. And it’s that free spirit that I trea-
sure about the Iceland experience. I think that this
is a real shame and that the issue at least deserves
more scrutiny than it is getting today. To that end,
we’ve put together an extensive feature about
what’s happening. Turn to pages 14-19 to assess
the gravity of the situation for yourself.
Photographer: Axel Sigurðarson
www.axelsig.com
On The Cover: Strokkur, Geysir area
Contributing Writers
Alex Baumhardt
Anna Margrét Björnsson
Árni Finnsson
Árni Hjörvar Árnason
Björn Teitsson
Bob Cluness
Catharine Fulton
Davíð Roach
Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson
John Rogers
Kári Tulinius
Óli Dóri
Sindri Eldon
Journalist
Larissa Kyzer / larissa@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Tómas Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Editorial Interns
Ben Smick / ben@grapevine.is
Yasmin Nowak / yasmin@grapevine.is
Fred Q. Labelle / fred@grapevine.is
Jonathan Pattishall / jonathan@grapevine.is
Laura Clark / laura@grapevine.is
Art Director
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Design:
Guðmundur Ingi Úlfarsson
Photographers:
Nanna Dís / www.nannadis.com
Alísa Kalyanova / www. alisakalyanova.com
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Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
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Jim Rice
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editor@grapevine.is
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Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken ltd.
Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly from May til
October. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part
without the written permission of the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine
is distributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Bor-
garnes, Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all major
tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles in the
Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions expressed are the
writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
C
om
ic by Lóa H
jálm
týsdóttir
We recently teamed up with the video and audio wizards of Music Reach
to release a series of bite-size interviews with musicians coupled with
footage from their gigs. We release a new video on our website every
Monday. Check it out: Post-Set Breakdown.
Lóa's work is currently on display at the Reyk-
javik City Library on Tryggvagata. The show
prominently features Lóa's Grapevine comics
and will be open through April.