Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.05.2015, Qupperneq 43

A: Kársnesbraut 102- Open studio-Bjarni og Ragga
B: Gerðasafn- Art exhibition
C: Anarkía- Art exhibition
D: Art 11- Open studio- 13 artists
E: Normx, Auðbrekka 6- Open studios 18 artists
F: Art exhibition Auðbrekka 28-30- 20 artists
G: Smiðjuvegur 74- Open studios- 4 artists
H: Gallerý Dalvegur 16 C- Art exhibition- 4 artists
A
B
C
D E F
H
G
ART WALK IN KÓPAVOGUR 2015
MAY 16TH FROM 9-17
Open studios and galleries
On the 16th of May, over 40 artist in Kopavogur will
welcome you into their studios and galleries.
Free bus rides to Kopavogur from Harpan Music Hall in
down town Reykjavik every 30 minutes from 9-15.30. Also
bus rides from each event in Kopavogur every 15
minutes. Light refreshments and everyone is welcome.
A journey
through the
visual world
of Iceland
The Culture House
Hverfisgata 15
101 Reykjavík
The exhibition, shop
and café are open
daily 10 - 17
Closed on Mondays
16/9 – 30/4
Illuminated manuscripts, textiles, carvings,
photographs, paintings and contemporary
Icelandic art www.culturehouse.is
The Culture House is part of the National Museum of Iceland
Bookkeeping & Tax consulting
info@accountant.is | www.accountant.is
Hátun 12, 105 Reykjavik | Tel.: 00354 490 0095
In your time as a musician, you’ve
tackled a lot of different genres.
Although you are best known for
your classical piano music and
soundtracks, when you were young-
er you were a drummer for Celes-
tine and Fighting Shit. How much of
your enthusiasm and inspiration do
you still carry with you from those
early years?
I feel like it’s all the same feelings for me.
The emotions may be communicated dif-
ferently through different forms of ex-
pression, but they all come from the same
place—love and anger have the same ori-
gin, whether you’re 18 or 28.
And how much have those youth
projects bled into the “respectable
and grown-up Ólafur Arnalds” I’m
currently speaking to?
Oh, they have a lot, because everything
you’ve done is part of who you are today.
You get a lot of experience playing music,
touring, and being in the scene, and it in-
fluences what you create now. I’ve also
felt that I’ve carried a lot of my punk style
into what I do now, even if I’m operating
in the classical music world, as it leaves
me unafraid of breaking all the rules. Even
my melodic elements and song structures
are based on things that got stuck in my
head from an early age.
I heard that one of your classical
songs, “Poland,” was inspired by a
particularly nasty hangover. Is that
true?
Yeah (laughs), that’s very anecdotal, but
it’s a true story, and I think it’s more com-
mon in the scene than you’d think. What
I’m maybe doing is cutting through the
precocity associated with composing this
kind of music, the idea that everything
needs to come from high-flying ideals.
But really, it doesn’t matter what genre
of music you’re creating, the ideas just
spring from how you’re feeling when
you’re feeling creative. It can be all sorts
of influences, not just highbrow ones.
I don’t know if this has been your
experience, but I personally felt
like Icelanders didn’t have a clue
who you were up until you won
your BAFTA last year, even though
you’d been producing music and
soundtracks for a good while before
that. Is this something you noticed
as well? And what do you think this
says about Icelanders’ ability to see
talent in their own midst?
Yes (laughs), this is something I’ve clearly
noticed myself. And it’s not just true of the
BAFTAs, but my whole career. No news-
paper or Icelandic festival wanted to talk
to me until I had made something inter-
nationally. It’s so strange, how a band can
send out a press release that they nailed
some gig in a London pub to a crowd of
50, and suddenly everyone hails them for
“making it” in the outside world. It was
more like that five or ten years ago, but I’d
been doing my thing, making my music,
and wasn’t invited to any festivals until I
had toured extensively outside of Iceland.
Then when The Guardian wrote about
me, I suddenly got a call from Icelandic
Music Export asking who I was and what
I was doing (laughs). I needed a full page
in The Guardian before Morgunblaðið
ever tried calling me!
I think it’s really strange, how it’s
like Icelanders don’t consider anything
important until foreigners have given it
recognition and approved it. This held
especially true when I won the BAFTA
and took the large step from occasion-
ally being mentioned in Fréttablaðið to
getting blasted in all the big media and
becoming a famous household item. But I
guess that’s what happens when you win
a big award like that, you’re on the front
page everywhere for a few weeks. But a
few years ago, the Icelandic music scene
wasn’t really giving credit to Icelanders
where it was due.
And how did Janus and you decide
to collaborate?
We had been friends since he moved to
Iceland, about seven years ago, and start-
ed making music together back in 2009.
We’d meet every other weekend, hang
out, have a beer, and create some techno
together. We released a few singles, and
weren’t planning on doing anything more,
but then a year later when we sent a demo
to my label, they told me we had to make
an album (laughs). They said we’d end
up making it on our own anyway, but this
way people would at least get to hear it.
Wasn’t it a difficult decision with
your busy schedule to commit to an-
other big project?
No, it wasn’t really ever supposed to be
big. I was scheduled to write the score for
a film last year, but it fell through so I was
left with two months free, so we decided
to come together and give Kiasmos the at-
tention it deserved. We went to the studio
and were there for six or seven weeks,
but we didn’t plan on touring that much.
Then, all of the sudden, it caught fire and
now we’ve been touring non-stop.
What can people expect at your gig
on May 15? Will there be audience
participation like we’ve grown used
to with your classical piano con-
certs?
No, I suspect people will just have to
dance (laughs). Or wait, isn’t that audi-
ence participation?
I’d like to think so!
It’s going to be quite a rocked-out show.
We’ve been practising and evolving our
set, and it’ll be a dance-friendly affair that
starts off slow before building up to be-
come a massive party.
Ólafur Arnalds On The Icelandic Music Scene And
The Dance Project That Accidentally Happened
MUSIC
CONCERT
May 15 Húrra, Naustin 101 Admission: 1,500 ISKKiasmos
Although he may be young in years, 28-year-old Ólafur Arnalds is no stranger to the lime-
light. He first stepped onto the stage as a drummer for hardcore bands Celestine and Fighting
Shit. He then forged a career for himself as a classical music composer, releasing three well-
received albums. He followed that up by writing the score for British TV series ‘Broadchurch’,
for which he was awarded a BAFTA in 2014. He’s also teamed up with Alice Sara Ott to make
‘The Chopin Project’, reimagining the historic composer’s works, and with Bloodgroup’s Ja-
nus Rasmussen to make Kiasmos, a dance project, which will be part of our upcoming Húrra
Grapevine concert on May 15! With a few days to go until his gig, we caught up with Ólafur
over the phone as he was in between studio sessions to talk about all of the above and more.
Words Gabríel Benjamin
Photo Marino Thorlacius