Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Blaðsíða 22

Good moon
Pascal Pinon have released two more
acclaimed albums since, and proven
enduringly popular. But it wasn’t until
Jófríður’s next project, Samaris, that
she would be catapulted to the fore-
front of Iceland’s music scene. Samaris
combined 90s-inflected beats, sono-
rous clarinet and synth washes with
Jófríður’s trademark emotive, waver-
ing, breathy vocals. The trio released a
series of early EPs before signing with
One Little Indian—home of Björk, Ólöf
Arnalds, and Ásgeir, amongst others.
After two years of packed-out gigs and
gradual development in Iceland, they
began touring all over the world.
“It was a huge learning curve,” says
Jófríður. “Samaris was a more popu-
lar band, and playing less kid-friendly
situations—clubs and people party-
ing and all that. We won the Músiktil-
raunir contest, so we felt that we had
to live up to the title, somehow. It was
very DIY, with me kind of keeping it to-
gether a little bit. It wasn’t always easy,
but it was responsibility I enjoyed tak-
ing on. It’s fun running a band—I en-
joyed running Samaris for a while.”
The early Samaris material in-
cluded “Góða Tungl” (“Good Moon,”
in English)—a memorable and mes-
merising electronic lullaby, with lyrics
based on old Icelandic poetry. It’s still a
staple of their live set today. “I love that
early stuff,” says Jófríður. “There was
something very special in that mate-
rial, that I think we’ve lost a little. I say
that very freely, because I stepped back
from the writing on the last Samaris
record. It went in a really fearless di-
rection—dark and driven. There’s one
track on the new album called ‘Gradi-
ent Sky’—we had to push for it to be on
the album. It’s softer—it shows some-
thing that’s feminine. The early stuff
was more feminine and gentle than
anything we do today. It takes so much
strength to be vulnerable. In the new
stuff, we’ve lost that.”
But Jófríður speaks with warmth
and affection of the Samaris proj-
ect, and of her bandmates Doddi and
Áslaug. “Today we’re like siblings—
there’s no filter,” she says. “We’ve
talked about things you wouldn’t talk
about with anyone, and been in so
many situations together—we’ve ar-
gued, laughed, cried. We love each oth-
er, and we hate each other, like brother
and sister.”
New gang
It’s a very different dynamic to that of
GANGLY—a project that started with
the anonymous release of the simmer-
ing, catchy, low-key pop song “Fuck
With Someone Else” in 2015. While
Jófríður’s voice is distinctive and rec-
ognisable, speculation was rife on the
question of who else was behind the
project. Before long it revealed that it
was Sindri Sigfússon of Sin Fang and
Úlfur Einarsson of Oyama.
“GANGLY works more like a com-
mune,” says Jófríður. “We all bring in
songs and build something together.
We’re all in our own world and our
own corner. It’s more like a govern-
ment—the songs go through the other
members, and they edit and make
changes. Everything is very comfort-
able and laid-back with GANGLY.”
“It’s a very different process to how
I make music in general,” she contin-
ues. “I don’t have passion for details,
like listening to a thousand different
snares from a bank. It’s not why I do
music, to have the right snare sound.
With all due respect to people to peo-
ple who nerd out with a million snares
and hi-hats, I’m the kind of person who
would pay someone to do that part.”
The GANGLY project is still just
beginning, but it has already offered
Jófríður the opportunity to try out
new ways of writing, singing, and
performing. Broadening her range
is something she continues to enjoy.
“This Airwaves actually brought that
contrast out in me—trying to see the
differences in the way I perform with
each of those groups,” she explains.
“Doing the shows all next to each other
has made it really clear. I challenged
myself because of that by trying to
push each performance in whatever
direction needs to go. It’s necessary for
me to do that, so that I can be myself in
JFDR.”
"I didn’t think I’d
be a person who sang
about love, but it’s
very human... maybe
wherever you are
in the cycle of a
relationship, you
can place yourself
in those songs."
"We were fifteen
years old and going
into record shops
and signing deals.
We were never like:
‘We’re too young for
this.’ We just did
it."