Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2016, Síða 34

The Assembly
of the
Hyper boreans
Freyskatla, 1993, raddskúlptúr / voice sculpture, M
agnús Pálsson
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir (IS)
dj. f lugvél og geimskip (IS)
Helgi Örn Pétursson (IS)
Jesper Fabricius (DK)
Luke Fowler (UK)
Magnús Pálsson (IS)
Nora Joung (NO)
Ragnar Kjartansson (IS)
Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson (IS)
The Narrative Collection init iated by
Chris toph Büchel (CH)
Curator Gavin Morrison
Co-curator Ráðhildur Ingadóttir
AN EVENT PROGRAM RUNS ALONGSIDE
THE EXHIBITION, WITH PERFORMANCES
AND A SCREENING.
OPEN DAILY FROM 12-18, WEDNESDAYS
FROM 12-20. GUIDED TOUR FOR GROUPS
CAN BE ARRANGED.
Skaft fell – Center for Visual Art, East Iceland
Austurvegur 42, Seyðisf jörður, www.skaft fell.is
Jun 4.– Sep 18. 2016
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G E T Y O U R D E S I G N E R B R A N D S
T A X F R E E A T K E F L A V I K A I R P O R T
Words HREFNA BJÖRG GYLFADÓTTIR
Photo ART BICNICK
Singer-songwriter Snorri Hel-
gason is a veteran of the Icelandic
music scene. His fourth solo album
‘Vittu Til’ was recently released,
with one of its singles, “Einsemd,”
in heavy rotation on the national
radio station. Here are Snorri’s
thoughts on the album.
Vittu til

I wrote this song while lounging
around my hotel room during the
Aldrei Fór Ég Suður festival. One of
my favourite songwriters, Valgeir
Guðjónsson, was playing at the festi-
val and I spent the afternoon listen-
ing to his stuff. I lay there thinking
that my only duty is to do nothing but
fun stuff because I can get away with
it and this is about that.

Sumarrós

I wrote this at a friend’s house in Denver,
while on tour in 2013. It was just after
my album ‘Autumn Skies’ came out. Ev-
erybody had gone to sleep but I stayed
up playing the guitar by his pool.

Það rúllar

I wrote this song in Galtarviti, a
lighthouse in the Westfjörds, where
there is no heat, electricity or phone
reception. It’s the most beautiful
place I have ever been to and I go
there to write and relax every sum-
mer. I wrote this song there, by the
campfire that night. It’s about a time
in my life where I lived in a commune
with my friends.

Sjakalinn

This is in a way the oddest and most
basic song of the album. I wrote the
lyrics first, which I never do. I’m not
even 100% sure what it is about, but I
like it. I wrote it while driving around
France looking at the hazy orange
fields, purple skies, endless plains of
sunflowers and started thinking about
jackals in the rain. When I came home
that night I tried singing it over a sim-
ple blues progression and it fit.

Tvö á lífi

I wrote this song sitting on the sofa
sipping on whiskey and strumming
these chords over and over again. My
friend Danni played a crazy guitar
part on it. We wanted to capture the
feel of playing a guitar solo to an emp-
ty stadium. We cranked the amp up
and got it in two takes. He does that.

SH draumur

I tried to make this work for ‘Autumn
Skies’ but I just couldn’t finish it. I fi-
nally found an arrangement and lyric
I liked. I asked Danni to do overdubs
and he came up with really interest-
ing backing vocals. Hjörtur then did
a string arrangement and Gummi cut
it all up and put it back together. An
Icelandic punk band from the early
80s inspired the title.

Tungl, flóð og fjara

I had been playing this guitar figure
for years before I realized I could do
something with it. I was playing it to
my friends and they asked me whose
song it was again, like they’d heard it
before. It was one of those songs float-
ing around waiting to be written.

Einhver (hefur tak’ á
mér náð)

This song started as a joke. It’s got
power chords in it, which is quite
uncharacteristic of my songwriting.
There was something about it that I
liked, though. When I played it with a
band something clicked and it’s a re-
ally fun song to play live.

Einsemd

I wrote this as a sort of slow neo-soul
Wurlitzer-based song about loneli-
ness but that arrangement never took
off. It wasn’t until the band bashed
around with it that it started tak-
ing shape. It changed from a downer
to an upper but the lyrics stayed
the same, giving them a whole new
meaning. It’s about being content
with solitude.

Á meðan borgin sefur

This is basically a blues song. It’s
about trying to keep the balance
of letting people in while trying to
maintain your mental health. It’s
also about Reykjavík on sunny sum-
mer nights.
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Music 34The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2016
Snorri
Helgason -
‘Vittu til’