Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.04.2017, Blaðsíða 33

‘The Aristókrasía Project’
by Úlfur Eldjárn
Words: Úlfur Eldjárn Photo: Art Bicnick
The project started
as an outlet for
ideas that didn’t
fit my band Appa-
rat Organ Quartet or my work as a
composer. It turned into this cryptic
concept album, a retro-futuristic dys-
topia of space travel, human-machine
relationships and science. Musically
it combines my weaknesses for both
analog synthesizers and classical in-
strumentation. On the record I was
lucky enough to work with a quartet
of incredibly talented string players,
and my friend Samuli Kosminen add-
ed his unique style of modified drums,
scrapyard percussion and progressive
laptop electronics to the mix.
Dagsbrún
The opening song sets the stage
for the album’s hidden narrative.
“Dagsbrún” means “dawn” or the
“edge of dawn.” I wrote it after
gazing at one too many paintings
by Simon Stålenhag. I think the
terror in his pictures is apparent
in the song.
Blue Eyes
At the time of writing this song
I was reading a fantastic science
fiction novel called ‘Blueprints of
the A f terl i fe’ by an
American author, Ryan
Boudinot. The novel is
very psychedelic, full
of mind-bending ideas
about the future, writ-
ten out of real concern
for life and the damage
we are doing to it. I was
also thinking about the
artificially intelligent
supercomputer called
Deep Blue that beat world cham-
pion Garry Kasparov in a chess
match in 1997. An incredible feat
and defeat for mankind. Somehow
I got its name wrong and called
it “Blue Eyes,” which I also liked.
Hands Up in the Air
Originally I was trying to create
something for synthesizers in the
spirit of Debussy and late romantic
French composers, but it ended up
being a kind of a brainless party an-
them for space travel. Afterwards
I realised some influence from
M|A|R|R|S’s classic hit “Pump Up the
Volume” may have slipped in there.
Poyekhali
This is my homage to Soviet cos-
monaut Yuri Gagarin, who became
the first man to see the Earth from
space. I’ve always been fascinated
by the fact that the Soviets man-
aged to pull off this mission in 1961,
without any of the digital equip-
ment or fancy computer technol-
ogy that we have today. The lyrics
are based on his communication
with Ground Control during the
flight, where he describes the emo-
tions and thoughts going through
his mind as he orbits the Earth. He
expresses wonder and amazement
about how beautiful the Earth is,
and warns us that we must do ev-
erything to preserve it. It’s pure
poetry. “Poeykhali!” means “Let’s
go!” in Russian, which were Gaga-
rin’s last words before takeoff.
The History of Science
The lyrics in this song are my mis-
erable attempt at telling the histo-
ry of science in less than 100 words.
I’m interested in the way science
has become our philosophy of life.
It has replaced religion, art and
poetry as a source of spirituality.
We seek elevation and inspiration
from watching wildlife documen-
taries or reading science journals.
Science is our new gospel.
I Feel Love
I was trying to write a love song
about some kind of relationship
between a human being and an ar-
tificially intelligent entity. I had
in mind that scene from ‘Electric
Dreams’, where the female lead is
practising on her cel-
lo and the computer
starts interacting and
playing along with her.
Bon Voyage
A tribute to the Voy-
ager mission. Voyager
1 and 2 are unmanned
s p a c e c r a f t w h i c h
have travelled further
into space than any-
thing else from Earth. They were
launched in 1977, so this year they
will have been travelling for 40
years. Both of the Voyagers carry
a copy of the ‘Golden Record’: a
unique collection of sounds, im-
ages and data that were chosen to
represent humanity if either of the
spacecraft would ever come into
contact with other lifeforms.

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33The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 05 — 2017
ALL DAY
©
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o
ld
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L
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C
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Dunkin
Laugavegur 3
Kringlan
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Leifstöð
Fitjar
ALL BAGELS 599ISK. EVERY DAY
“It ended up
being a kind
of a brainless
party
anthem
for space
travel...”
TRACK BY
TRACK
WAR
IS
OVER!
IF YOU WANT IT
Happy Christmas from John & Yoko
(and The Laundromat Cafe)
All
needislove
you
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