Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.06.2017, Qupperneq 43

Music
Unravelled Soul
The melancholic, dreamy electronic music of
einarIndra
Words: John Rogers Photo: Art Bicnick
The music of ei-
n a r I n d r a f e e l s
discreet, or even
secretive, some-
how. His mellow
songs are slow and
languorous, their
muted late-night
rhy th m s t ick ing
along at a relaxed
pace beneath plain-
tive synth washes
a nd a n e choi n g
falsetto voice. It’s
an intriguing and
b e g u i l i n g m i x-
ture of soul, in-
die song w riting,
a nd ele c t ron ic a
that stands out in
the current Icelandic scene.
“EinarIndra is a name an old
yoga monk gave me when I was a
teenager,” says Einar Rafn Þórh-
allsson, the quiet
and mild-mannered
man behind the mu-
sic. “I’ve been using
it ever since. But the
Icelandic law is that
if you change your
name, you have to go
through the naming
committee. Indra
is a woman’s name,
and they won’t let me
have both a male and
female name. So I
use it for my music.”
H i s m u s i c a l
journey began ear-
ly, in elementar y
school. “I was only
l istening to hip-
hop,” says Einar. ”Then I remember
hearing the GusGus song ‘Polyes-
terday,’ and it opened me up to the
idea that hip-hop rhythms could
be turned into something else. I
went more into electronic music,
learned Fruityloops and some
other software, and started mak-
ing beats. Then I went to a music
school to learn computer music.”
Kindred spirits
The genesis of his experimenta-
tion is einarIndra, a solo project
he started four years ago. “A friend
of mine asked me to do music for
an art video,” says Einar. “He in-
spired me to start doing music
again. He was doing art full time,
putting real effort into it, and
going all in. That inspired me.”
Einar found another kindred
spirit in Futuregrapher. The
two had been working in par-
allel in their early lives in dif-
ferent parts of Iceland, before
the internet started connecting
like-minded people more easily.
“I did a track for a Möller compi-
lation, called ‘Mountain Blues’,”
says Einar. “That was the first
track I put out, in 2014, and then
my first EP came that year.”
His biggest single to date,
“Sometimes I’m Wrong,” is deco-
rated with some welcome elec-
tronic flourishes, adding another
facet to his intriguing brand of
low-key pop. “I’ve tried to do more
upbeat songs, when I go to the
bar and hear FM Belfast or some-
thing,” he laughs. “But then I try,
and end up slowing it down... and
then slowing it down some more. I
found my rhythm—111 BPM—and
I can’t go any faster than that.”
Alt melancholy
Einar played around 40 gigs last
year, including several overseas.
He noticed on his travels that be-
ing Icelandic is a point of interest
for the outside world. “This Janu-
ary I played at Ment Festival in
Slovenia,” he recalls. “That was a
beautiful festival. Icelanders have
this melancholy indie-alternative
vibe that a lot of people seem to
be looking for. I hear people say-
ing that being from Iceland is very
cool right now—not that I feel it
myself. I’ve actually often been
told that I don’t sound Icelandic.”
His third EP, following on from
‘You Sound Asleep’ and ‘Stories’,
has the working title of ‘Unravel’
and is planned for release in the
autumn. Until then, einarIndra
continues to drip-feed the world
with catchy and hypnotic singles
like “Take Me Down,” which drops
on June 2—and whether he sounds
Icelandic or not, something tells
us his journey is just beginning.
43 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2017
“I hear people
saying that
being from
Iceland is very
cool right
now—not
that I feel it
myself. I’ve
actually often
been told that
I don’t sound
Icelandic.”
?
"EinarIndra" was rejected
by the naming commission.
But, you know. Fuck the police.
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