Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.12.2016, Side 18

The R
eykjavík G
rapevine
Iceland A
irw
aves Special 20
16
18 “aYia”: say it out loud. It’s not a
word. It’s a sound, it’s a symbol,
and it’s a gesture. It’s a finger to
point out the view that you’re
already standing in. Or, as we
discussed with the voice of the
group, the lack of a view.
“Our music is so much the
void,” she says (the band prefers
anonymity for now). “We tend to
go into something that is real-
ly dark. Something that doesn’t
seem to have hope—but then
again, the voice is really bright.
Really hopeful maybe. Hopeful
and cynical at the same time.”
These days our sense of “void”
is more real than ever. Phones
and social media allow us to im-
merse ourselves within worlds
that demand our presence, but
not our essence. Distracted by
the darkness of the black mirror,
we take no time to confront our
own darknesses—IRL.
That said, escapism is not
something inherently evil. “It can
be a really beautiful way to deal
with life; for example, to create
fantasies and stories, and poet-
ry, and singing,” she says as her
eyes wander away… “but there are
two sides of course. If you get too
deep into avoiding awareness,
you get caught in a whirlwind.”
Dust in the wind
aYia’s newly released debut sin-
gle “Water Plant” deals with a
state of in-betweenness “where
you don’t know where you’re go-
ing or what is happening. Where
you’re kind of in this hurricane
where everything seems unreal
to you,” she explains. “It’s not
about renewing yourself or get-
ting your strength back in these
times, it’s more about being in
that feeling. Being in that mo-
ment when everything is fucked
up and you have no idea what
to do or why it happened, and
it’s overwhelming in a way that
the only thing you can do is just
drift. You can only stay calm
and ride it.”
On the one hand, “Water
Plant” is a reminder to feel. To
be completely present in what-
ever your whirlwind. But, as
aYia said before, the message
is something “hopeful and cyn-
ical at the same time.” For all
the stillness promoted by pres-
ence, things are always going
to change.
“Everything is connected
to currents in life,” she contin-
ues, “currents that come to you
and change your life and get
you somewhere [else]. So it’s
also about timing. And maybe
there is some pattern to it, but
that pattern is invisible: you
can’t see it, you can never see it,
and if you try to see it you will
become crazy.” It’s kind of like
trying to see the wind, or trying
to catch the wind. “Handful of
wind…” she sings, melancholic
and glistening, in the opening
line of the track.
On the record
For aYia, “the timing” was
something like mid-June during
Secret Solstice. They performed
together for the first time at the
festival, catching the attention
of the well-known Icelandic re-
cord label and music collective
Bedroom Community. The la-
bel was interested in including
an aYia track in ‘Hvalreki’, their
ongoing series of digital releas-
es. Thus, “Water Plant” came to
fruition.
In early October, the track
was released as the second in the
series, after an experimental ol-
factory/musical creation called
“A Scent Opera,” written by the
label’s co-founders Nico Muhly
and Valgeir Sigurðsson. A vid-
eo soon followed the track: the
four-figured aYia symbol spin-
ning, warping, and dissolving in
a black void of screen.
As far as future projections
go, they are not sure. “We’ll just
see where the wind takes us,” she
says, “who knows, maybe aYia
will just swallow the wind.”
See aYia at Airwaves on Friday No-
vember 4 in Harpa’s Silfurberg, and
on Saturday November 5 at Húrra.
We specialize in trips
to the Blue Lagoon (3-hour stop)
on the way from or to the airport.
Cars for 4-8 passengers
To book in advance: tel:+354 588 5522
or on www.hreyfill.is E-mail: tour@hreyfill.is
This month Hreyfill Taxi company
is supporting breast cancer awareness
as well as fund-raising breast cancer
screening by
The Icelandic Cancer Society
Catch My Drift
Words Parker Yamasaki Photo Hörður Sveinsson
Riding the currents with
newcomers aYia