Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2016, Blaðsíða 25

Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2016, Blaðsíða 25
The Reykjavík Grapevine Super Special Sónar Special 2016 When the 2015 Kraumur nominations for outstanding musical achievement were an- nounced, one name—asdfhg—stood out among the usual suspects. Even Reykjavík’s most dedicated scenesters hadn’t heard so much as a kilobyte of asdfhg music, and abso- lutely no one knew who on earth was behind the project. Many even doubted that it origi- nated in Iceland. The story goes that one of the Kraumur panellists stumbled upon asdfhg’s ‘Ste- ingervingur’ during a late-night Bandcamp- browsing session, and was impressed enough to share it with the rest of the committee. Without any idea who was behind the proj- ect, the Kraumur folks still liked the album enough to shortlist it among their 21 albums of 2015. Subsequently, ‘Steingervingur’ was one of six albums to receive the coveted 2015 Kraumur award, touted alongside works of veterans like dj. flugvél og geimskip, Teitur Magnússon and Mr. Silla. The mid-December Kraumur Awards ceremony was therefore first time most lo- cal scenesters, including Your Friends At The Grapevine, got a glimpse of the person behind asdfhg. And boy, what a surprise! It turns out the award-winning ‘Steingervin- gur’ was written and recorded in a Laugar- dalur basement, by a sixteen-year-old girl called Steinunn. And now she's on the bill for Sónar Reykjavík, where she'll be making her stage début! Wow, right? We caught up with her to learn more. Of course she is a feminist Yes, the mastermind behind the award-win- ning ‘Steingervingur’ is a sixteen-year-old girl called Steinunn Jónsdóttir, who lives in her parent’s basement, where she spends her time making music, playing instruments and reading poetry. Usually in the middle of the night. Steinunn comes from a cultured background, with literary critics for parents and a grand- mother who was prominent in the Icelandic feminist movement. Her upbringing was thus quite infused with discussion on mat- ters such as feminism, environmentalism and art. “Of course I am a feminist,” she re- sponds when asked, as if anything else would be utterly ludicrous. This sixteen-year-old might look her age, but getting to know her it seems as if she’s al- ready lived two lives. Bursting with creativ- ity and knowledge, it was clearly just a matter of time until we started noticing her. The funny thing is that it happened com- pletely by accident. “Crazy week” Steinunn spent three restless nights this past summer producing an album of electronic music not meant for public consumption. She posted it pseudonymously on Bandcamp under the name asdfhg, sharing it only with a few of her closest friends. And that’s as far as it went. Therefore, she was as surprised as anyone, to say the least, when she learned it had been shortlisted by Kraumur. Steinunn was first made aware of the hon- ours when local hip-hop producer (and frequent Grapevine contributor) Lord Puss- whip uncertainly congratulated her through Instagram. He’d noticed the name written on the album cover—“nnuniets,” which was Steinunn’s username on Instagram—and de- duced that it might be her. This was the night before Steinunn’s Span- ish finals and, understandably, she didn’t get much sleep at all. Like she tweeted: “uhm, I’m accidentally a musician! Put some shit pseudonymously up on Bandcamp about a year ago not meant for anyone to see and was nominated in Kraum’s album selection the other day, crazy week!” Hidden electro women Steinunn’s life has changed rapidly since she received the Kraumur award. She says she initially felt vulnerable when processing the news. These were songs she had written in a dreamy state in the middle of the night. “I was actually quite nervous when I found out that people were listening to my music, but when I started noticing all the good reactions to the album, excitement overcame the fear. Of course, making mu- sic is very personal. For me, it was more of an outlet for my feelings and for having fun, rather than something I sought acknowl- edgment for,” she says, adding that pseud- onymously posting her songs on Bandcamp gave her the courage to release anything she wanted without worrying about criticism. But how did Steinunn come to be an ac- cidental musician? Inspiration, for the most part. “I’ve always been making music,” she says. “I was in a band with my sister and friends in the second grade and after that I just never stopped experimenting. I played the flute, the ukulele and the drums. Then, this summer, I started experimenting with electronic music. I get really inspired in the middle of the night, which is when this whole album was produced.” What inspires you? “My grandmother, Silja, is my biggest inspi- ration. I’ve always loved her voice and want- ed to be just like her. She’s really proud of asd- fhg and has already liked our Facebook page! I also love poetry. I’ve read a collection of poems by Steinn Steinarr every year since I was nine years old. I started writing my own poetry in third grade. The librarian would always hang my poems up in the window, which was sweet, one poem for each week.” What are your thoughts on the discussion in Iceland about women in the electronic music scene? “It’s quite complicated. There might be fewer women than men in the electronic music scene, but I’m sure there are more than we think. We just need to look better and draw more attention to them because it’s impor- tant for us to have role models. It’s like in sports, fewer people attend women’s sports events, because the media covers less of it… and vice versa.” How do you feel about the fact that you might be opening young girls’ eyes to electronic music production? “I find the idea really beautiful. Really crazy at the same time though.” Asked what’s next for asdfhg, Steinunn explains she is currently working with her friend Orri on crafting more tunes. “The award presented us with the perfect oppor- tunity. We first made music together eight years ago, when Orri played the trumpet and I played the flute. We’ve talked about doing more for a long time, but never took the idea seriously. Orri had no idea about the music I’d produced as asdfhg. Now, we’ve set up a little studio and even bought our own coffee machine. It’s all really exciting.” asdfhg. will perform at SonarPub on Satur- day February 20, at 8pm. QWERTY GOOD FOR A GIRL asdfhg Steinunn Jónsdóttir Pictures and text by Hrefna Björg Gylfadóttir Feb 18 - Feb 20
Blaðsíða 1
Blaðsíða 2
Blaðsíða 3
Blaðsíða 4
Blaðsíða 5
Blaðsíða 6
Blaðsíða 7
Blaðsíða 8
Blaðsíða 9
Blaðsíða 10
Blaðsíða 11
Blaðsíða 12
Blaðsíða 13
Blaðsíða 14
Blaðsíða 15
Blaðsíða 16
Blaðsíða 17
Blaðsíða 18
Blaðsíða 19
Blaðsíða 20
Blaðsíða 21
Blaðsíða 22
Blaðsíða 23
Blaðsíða 24
Blaðsíða 25
Blaðsíða 26
Blaðsíða 27
Blaðsíða 28
Blaðsíða 29
Blaðsíða 30
Blaðsíða 31
Blaðsíða 32
Blaðsíða 33
Blaðsíða 34
Blaðsíða 35
Blaðsíða 36
Blaðsíða 37
Blaðsíða 38
Blaðsíða 39
Blaðsíða 40
Blaðsíða 41
Blaðsíða 42
Blaðsíða 43
Blaðsíða 44
Blaðsíða 45
Blaðsíða 46
Blaðsíða 47
Blaðsíða 48
Blaðsíða 49
Blaðsíða 50
Blaðsíða 51
Blaðsíða 52
Blaðsíða 53
Blaðsíða 54
Blaðsíða 55
Blaðsíða 56

x

Reykjavík Grapevine

Beinir tenglar

Ef þú vilt tengja á þennan titil, vinsamlegast notaðu þessa tengla:

Tengja á þennan titil: Reykjavík Grapevine
https://timarit.is/publication/943

Tengja á þetta tölublað:

Tengja á þessa síðu:

Tengja á þessa grein:

Vinsamlegast ekki tengja beint á myndir eða PDF skjöl á Tímarit.is þar sem slíkar slóðir geta breyst án fyrirvara. Notið slóðirnar hér fyrir ofan til að tengja á vefinn.