Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2017, Qupperneq 35

‘Hefnið okkar’
by Úlfur Úlfur
Words: Úlfur Úlfur & Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Hörður Sveinsson
Úlfur Úlfur recently dropped their
sophomore album, ‘Hefnið okkar’,
which means “Avenge Us.” Rappers
Helgi and Arnar gave us the rundown
on each song.
Hefnið okkar
(“Avenge Us”)
Helgi: We hadn’t
planned to make an intro, but I had
a new synthesizer...
Arnar: … I said Helgi, go wild!
Geimvera (“Alien”)
A: The beat here is atmospheric,
like floating through space just
looking cool—the soundtrack for
a space opera. There’s a lot of sci-
fi references because we are, uh...
H: … not nerds.
A: Yeah, never nerds. Fans.
Barn (“Child”)
A: “Barn” is bright and goofy, but
it’s about not giving a fuck, fuck
the haters, do what I want, etc. I rap
about shit that is frowned upon in
the hip-hop community, like ho-
moerotic stuff or sex transplants,
because that’s how few fucks I give.
Skrímskli (“Monster”)
A: “Skrímskli” feels like you’re in
the 80s on your motorcycle wear-
ing a leather jacket driving into
the sunset at 200 km/hour doing a
whiskey shot—just an outlaw loner
creature of the night.
Bróðir (“Brother”)
H: “Bróðir” is definitely a catchy
inside-the-box kind
of song but it says
don’t limit yourself,
go further, think
outside the box.
15
A: We’re just rap-
ping our butts off
here embracing that
we are almost old
rappers in a young
man’s game. Rap
music is cool now,
but “15” is about the
bad years when rap
was just a joke in
Iceland. We say, “We’ve been doing
this for fifteen years. We’ll do it for
fifteen more.” But yes, rap has gone
full circle and we are finally cool.
H: Finally!
Ofurmenni (“Superman”)
A: “When it gets too cold, are you
going to freeze to death or are you
going to light yourself on fire?”
H: Yeah, just be
Superman. When
it’s cold, you got-
ta stay cool be-
cause freezing is an awkward way
to die. Bad posture. Doesn’t look
heroic.
MUA
H: “MUA” is the only explicitly po-
litical song. Corruption, bankers,
the guys who are buying all the
apartments and throwing stu-
dents on the street.
A: I am not trying to be deep, I am
just saying they are mean. They
have the power to do nice things
and they aren’t.
Mávar (“Seagulls”)
A: Have you ever been at Prikið for
so long that when you leave the sun
is shining and there are seagulls
on the street? It’s disgusting. This
song is about that feeling, just one
long verse rambling about things
I am ashamed or confused about.
People act like they are 100% in
control of their life but nobody
is. It’s just pretend. Fuck seagulls
though.
Tempo
H: When I first let my mother
hear “Tempo” I had to give her a
disclaimer like: “Mamma, I’m not
gonna kill myself.” We say some
dark stuff but it’s like those con-
versations you have at 6am in the
kitchen after a party.
Engar hendur (“No Hands”)
H: You know when you can finally
take your hands off your bicycle
and not fall? That’s “Engar hen-
dur.” We’re proud of us and it’s a
good thing to be proud of yourself
and to know your
mother is proud of
you.
A: Especially when
you are a rapper in
Iceland.
Úlfur (“Wolf”)
H: When we wrote
t h i s a l b u m , w e
thought it was gonna
be our last. I wanted
to move to Toronto
and Arnar wanted
to write a book, so it
felt right to call the
last song “Úlfur”
cause that’s been our theme for
fifteen or sixteen years.
A: “No matter what, I am a still
a wolf.” We will always be a band
and we aren’t saying it’s over just
that we’ve been doing this for a
while and if we were to quit it’d be
of natural causes. Two guys going
their separate ways, living sepa-
rate lives.
H: We’ve come a long
way, struggled, suc-
ceeded, and we want
to pass the torch.
35The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2017
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