Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.09.2016, Síða 30

Music 30The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 14 — 2016
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Pascal Pinon is twin sisters Ásthil-
dur and Jófríður Ákadóttir, who
self-produced their first album aged
just fourteen. Their second, released
in 2013, was called ‘Twosomeness’,
and their third, out now, is called
‘Sundur’.
"Finding a name for an album
is crazy difficult,” says Ásthildur,
“because the songs have different
emotions connected to them. But we
liked this one. We lived in different
countries for the last two years, so
the process of making of an album
was totally different this time.”
Jósa & Lotta
Ásthildur: This song is maybe my
favourite. It’s our nicknames, Jósa
and Lotta. We recorded it when
Jófríður visited me in Amsterdam.
We also included the original phone
demo at the start. I really like the
atmosphere of it.
53
Jófríður: "53" was written when I
was only seventeen. I had made a
new friend, one I had the chance
and privilege of sharing thoughts
on life and death with. He told me
the story of how his mother com-
mitted suicide in the most tragic
way. I went home that same day and
wrote the song in the afternoon,
trying to make sense of the story,
the emotions and his remarkable
wholeness.
Forest
J: We called this song "the techno
song" because of the Casio keyboard
beat. It emerged shortly after we
recorded ‘Twosomeness’, so it has a
very similar lyrical theme: longing
to be with someone that’s far away.
Skammdegi
J: The title is a term that exists
only in Icelandic and translates
as "the short days" or is basically
referring to the dark winter season.
It’s a kind of hopeful melancholy,
things are pretty low but they’re
gonna get better.
Fuglar
J: We named this one "Fuglar" (or
"Birds") because we were asked to
donate a song to collect money for
endangered migrant birds in Malta.
We contributed a demo of this track
and named it in honour of all birds.
Spider Light
A: We both play the piano in this
one—it’s a four-handed version. We
recorded it on a really nice grand
piano that was just out of tune, but
just nicely out of tune.
Orange
J: We used to call this song the
Brahms ballad, as a reference to
its Brahms-inspired chord pro-
gression. The lyrics are a kind of
diary style storytelling, you can
even hear me turning a page at
one point.
Twax
J: This one is the sleepy song. We
recorded some bells, a bass drum
and a lawn mower that was pass-
ing by the studio and hummed in
perfect tune to the music.
Babies
A: The lyrics of this one are inspired
by a short story by Karen Blixen,
one of my favourite authors. The
story is about a man who wanted
to be closer to God, so he made
himself wings and lived as a bird;
but then he realised if you’re a fish
you can swim in all directions and
never fall.
Ást
A: We asked, “How can we make a
song for voice and piano that’s not
an almost-classical cliché type of
thing?” So we made this one. We put
paper on top of the piano strings so
there’s some extended technique.
J: It’s a general pondering of love
and what it means and takes to
get it right. I wrote the song and
Ásthildur made the piano arrange-
ment skilfully.
Weeks
J: This is an old song, recorded
live, during the last hours of an
intense weekend of recording ses-
sions. It tells a tale of melancholy
and being apart from somebody
or something. It has some funny
instruments—bird flutes, bassoon
played by Ásthildur, and tuba played
by our father.
LISTEN &SHARE:
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Words JOHN ROGERS
Photo FROM THE ARTIST
TRACK BY TRACK
‘Sundur’
by Pascal Pinion
Album