Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.08.2016, Qupperneq 36

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“... It blew us away.
A wonderful insight into
the music of Iceland.”
Tomas Z | July 2013
Kef LAVÍK is the best-kept secret
in the Icelandic music scene. They
are two guys in their early twenties
hailing from Höfn í Hornafirði, way
jaded beyond their years, who for
the past year or
so have churned
out three EPs
of absurd and
detached auto-
tuned electro-
pop about love,
money, drugs
and sex. They
have gathered
a cult following
despite having
never performed live and refusing
to give their names—but agreed to
an e-mail interview.
I’d heard that one of the
band members were previ-
ously in a hardcore rock act,
which they confirm. Of their
change in direction, they say, “ It
doesn’t matter what type of music
you make (or art for that matter) as
long as it gives you something. If it
gives anything to somebody else
that’s an added bonus.”
When asked about the division
of labour in the band, both say that
one of them makes the music and
the other does the lyrics and vocals.
“But,” they add, “we like to look at
kef LAVÍK as a single entity with a
unified front.”
They were discovered just by
putting music up on SoundCloud
and Spotify, and also have a Face-
book page and a Twitter account.
Recalling their rise, they note that
“people first took notice of the song
‘Í sjálfum mér’ (‘In my self’). That’s
a catchy and danceable tune with a
strong sense of humour. Our biggest
fans seem to be in the countries
educational institutions, we have
gotten a slew of requests performing
at high school and college events.”
It’s notable that young guys from
a remote village are so in touch with
the darker side of the human psyche.
Of the shadowy subjects they often
discuss, kef LAVÍK avers: “The thing
about the dark sides is that you can
find them everywhere, whether in
Tel Aviv or Hvammstangi. A simple
way to get in touch with it is being
fifteen years old and asking your
cousin to go to the liqor store for
you, another to buy drugs from Siggi
Sýra (Siggi Acid), or simply entering
a relationship. You just have to be
curious enough.”
Kef LAVÍK have recently released
their third EP, ‘Vesæl í kuldanum’
(“Miserable and
Cold”), and they
say a l l t h ree
EPs are part of
a whole: “They
all tell the same
story. It’s a con-
cept piece that
m i xes upbeat
electro pop with
heavier subject
matter. The gist
of the trilogy is an exploration of
gender relations, masculinity, drugs
and depression. To explore those
themes we tell a sincere
story of a young couple that
uses a lot of drugs, but still
try to maintain some sort
of loyalty to each other. Naturally
the results are mixed, and the con-
sequences of that form the subject
matter of the trilogy.”
The band members are now mov-
ing to Reykjavík, where one of them
is going to college and the other one
plans to work as a chef. They’ll hold
their first concert before the end of
the year, they say, “and are currently
working on an EP titled ‘Songs about
fucking and/or using drugs’.”
LISTEN AND SHARE:
gpv.is/kef13
Music Music Interview
Words & Photo DAVÍÐ ROACH GUNNARSSON
Drugs, Mascu-
linity And
Depression
36The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2016
Kef LAVÍK claim to never have seen a
lighthouse. We're doubtful.