Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2016, Blaðsíða 24

STRAUMUR
Open 11:30-22:00
saegreif inn. is
Geirsgata 8 • 101 Reykjavík • Tel. 553 1500 • seabaron8@gmail.com
An absolute
must-try!
Saegreifinn restaurant (Sea Baron) is like none other
in Iceland; a world famous lobster soup and a diverse
fish selection.
The tight-knit Reykjavík music scene al-
lows for some serious genre-bending.
With their new project Spítali (which
simply means “hospital”), longtime
friends and collaborators Sindri Már
Sigfússon and Halldór Ragnarsson break
onto to the dancefloor. The former art
school classmates previously worked to-
gether as members of the indie-folk out-
fit Seabear, founded by Sindri in 2003.
Since then, Sindri has performed under
the Sin Fang moniker and with clandes-
tine r&b supergroup Gangly, whereas
Halldór has plied his trade as a visual
artist while rocking the clubs as DJ Pil-
sner on weekends.
Spítali’s first release “You” is a
lush instrumental house track, driven
by chopped samples and pulsating beats.
The track will surely be a summer floor-
filler in Reykjavík clubs, but its uplifting
soundscape works just as well for the
home listener. According to Halldór, it’s a
mixture of the partnership’s distinct sen-
sibilities. “We’re different people,” says
Halldór. “I think that’s what led to the
surprising result of our collaboration.”
Seabear reconvened on stage in
March to raise funds for the victims
of a devastating case of arson in down-
town Reykjavík, which left Halldór and
his girlfriend Rós without a home. Lo-
cal mainstays Mammút, Singapore Sling
and Serengeti joined in to perform at
the event in a heartwarming show of
support. “I won’t deny I shed a few tears
that night and performing with Seabear
again was an exhilarating feeling,” says
Halldór. “It was like reuniting with lost
family members. This has been an in-
credibly difficult period and I wouldn’t
have wished this on my worst enemy,
but we’re bouncing back. So many good
people have provided invaluable help and
I want to thank them all. You’re wonder-
ful.”
TRACK OF
THE ISSUE
Spítali
“You”
Download it for free
at gpv.is/toti02
Written by STEINDÓR
GRÉTAR JÓNSSON
Written by ÓLI DÓRI & DAVID ROACH Photo by LILJA BIRGISDÓTTIR
High Quality House
& Melting Hearts
The editorial board of Straumur trav-
elled all the way to Ísafjörður over Eas-
ter to witness the always extremely
chilled and awesome Aldrei Fór Ég
Suður (I Never Went South) music fes-
tival. It was two nights of festive fun
with loads of bands playing in an old
storehouse down by the harbor, with
beautiful gigantic mountains tower-
ing over both sides of the fjord. The
bands were both new and old, local and
Reykjavík-ian, so everybody got some-
thing for their taste.
Some of our favorite artists per-
forming were atmospheric electronic
composer Tonik; newcomer normcore
rapper GKR; old-timers Risaeðlan
(which coincidently translates as “Di-
nosaur”), who played Balkan-infused
anarchic punk with sax and violins;
and Emiliana Torrini, who melted our
hearts like Greenland glaciers in the
midst of global warming with an oh so
delicate rendition of her classic song
“Sunny Road.” Then Sykur closed the
festival with monumental electronic
power pop and invited a half a dozen
audience members onstage for a dance
session to their closing number and
megahit, “Reykjavík,” for which song-
stress Agnes appropriately changed
the lyrics from “Reykjavík þú vekur
mig” (“Reykjavík You Wake Me Up”) to
“Ísafjörður þú vekur mig.” Thank you
Ísafjörður and Aldrei Fór Ég Suður!
Contradicting the the title of the
music festival we’ve just finished re-
viewing, we go south from Ísafjörður
to tell you about the Reykjavík musi-
cians Halldór Ragnarsson and Sindri
Már Sigfússon (Sin Fang), previously
together in the band Seabear. They
have a brand new musical project to-
gether called Spítali (“Hospital”). and
last month released their first song
under that moniker. The two friends
say that they started to write house
music jointly this winter, and the song
“You” is first result of that collabora-
tion. Mastered by electronic producer
Oculus, and mixed by him and the
band, “You” is a high-quality house
number with a romantic ambience. It
grinds and builds higher and higher
over the course of its six minutes, with
hard hitting drums, 80s-sounding
synth pads and fractured vocal snip-
pets that should hypnotize headphone
listeners and late-night dance floors
alike. Spítali also released a video for
“You,” directed by Máni M. Sigfússon,
that we encourage people to check out.
It’s a dreamy concoction of aerial foot-
age of big city skyscrapers at night in-
terspersed with VHS-ish visual filters.
Straumur radio show airs on X977,
Mon. at 23:00 - www.straum.is
Happening 24
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2016