Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2016, Side 32

The year 2012 was a big hit for
disco dancers worldwide: they lost
their queen, Donna Summer, and
their prince, Robin Gibb (from
the Bee Gees). But that year also
saw the resurgence of Icelandic
disco, in the form of ever-pretty
and always on-beat group Boogie
Trouble. After four years of hon-
ing their groovecraft they are fi-
nally pushing their debut album,
‘Í Bænum’, into the world. I met
up with front-couple (not actual
couple) Klara Arnalds and Sin-
dri Freyr at Klara’s house, where
they had set up a micro sweatshop
packaging their brand-new album,
and asked them a few questions
about their offspring, ideology and
escapism.
What took you so long to get it out?
“We came into the scene at a time
when the krútt/lo-fi wave was
still going strong. We on the other
hand were making shameless pop
music and the resources we had
at our disposal just weren’t quite
enough to get the hi-fi sound we
were aiming for,” Klara tells me.
“The matter of members moving
abroad multiple times and a ro-
tating lineup also had an effect,”
Sindri adds. “We also re-recorded
almost all of the album because
we just weren’t happy enough with
the sound the first time.”
But why did five indie kids
form a disco band, of all things, in
2012? Sindri says he just wanted to
write pop songs and saw disco as
an (of late) unused canvas. Bass
player Ingibjörg (the funkiest
woman in Iceland) was at that time
knee-deep in Motown vibes, so she
seemed like a natural fit. All of
them were into different types of
music but found common ground
in disco. But as you can hear on
the album, Boogie Trouble’s disco
is not a pure breed: they also draw
on elements from surf, funk and
60s Icelandic pop, to name a few
strains. “When you ascribe to a
certain type of music in 2012 you
have to mix it with other elements,
or else it’s just a replica, a costume
party,” says Klara. “I feel that when
we started, disco for most people
was only bellbottomed pants and
afro wigs; that was something we
wanted to change.”

Some say disco emerged in the
70s out of the need for an escape
from the hard political climate
of that time. Is that a theory you
think has some merits?
Sindri: “Well, disco began in gay
clubs and the black community
and then rises to surface, sort as
a reflex to the failed hippie ideals
of the 60s. The political climate in
the US was absolutely horrendous.
Martin Luther King and Kennedy
had been killed, the Black Panthers
had been killed and imprisoned,
everything more or less sucked.
So escapism through dancing
seemed to some the natural thing
to do. In that light it could be pos-
sible to look at Boogie Trouble as
“hrunmúsík,” but that has to be
assessed later when more years
have passed.”
Klara: “I can see that, but for
me it had a lot to do with making
up an alter ego for myself. Because
I had never performed for an au-
dience before I started Boogie
Trouble I couldn’t set foot onstage
without curling my hair A LOT and
wearing an orange diva dress. You
could call that escapism—I had to
get out of my own persona, to put
my regular life on hold and turn
into this howling songstress in a
disco band.”
Both Klara and Sindri are very
happy with the sound of their de-
but album and the work of their
producer Janus (of Kiasmos and
Bloodgroup fame). “Of course you
should always put it on while hav-
ing a dance party, but if you give it
a spin in some good headphones
you should notice subtle new details
with each listen you hadn’t heard
before, endless layers and over-
dubs,” says Sindri.
“there is a listening party at
Húrra on the 12th of April when
you can listen to the album on an
awesome sound system" Sindri
added. "There will be FREE BEER,
that is the most important part of
the interview, can you print that in
bold and Caps Lock? It starts at 8,
the album will be sold, and we will
be autographing it.”
SHARE: gpv.is/boogie
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KvíKví Heike Baranowsky
4 channel video/sound installation
Keramik

47 members of the Icelandic
Ceramic Artists’ Association
Let The
Children Boogie
Iceland's Disco Saviors Emerge
By DAVÍÐ ROACH GUNNARSSON
Photo RUT SIGURÐARDÓTTIR
32The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 4 — 2016