Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2016, Qupperneq 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