Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2017, Qupperneq 38

The Honest.
The Violent.
Countess Malaise’s House of Open Horror
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Ísold Braga
malaise (noun; ma'leız)
1. A feeling of general bodi-
ly discomfort, fatigue or un-
pleasantness, often at the on-
set of illness.
2. An ambiguous feeling of
mental or moral depression.
3. Ill will or hurtful feelings for
others or someone.
Agony, disease, resentment: prob-
ably not the first things that come
up when you Google “rap”. They’re
also not words you’d use to describe
Dýrfinna Benita when you first
meet her. Soft-spoken, eccentric,
funny, perceptive—she’s anything
but a cruel Debbie Downer. That
said, bump her tracks and you’ll
hear a different story. Over heavy
beats, the rapper pushes honest ag-
gression, dark stories, and all round
horror—a Sharon Needles for the
hip-hop crowd.
So nod your head and bow down
to Countess Malaise. Welcome to
her kingdom of turnt rap gore.
The genesis of a ruler
“There’s this comic book character
from the 1960s who I find so sexy
Concert at Prikið
With Une Misere, Godchilla & Seint,
August 25th at 17:00
and badass. She’s sort of a spy or a
superhero, but basically just a chick
with a gun. Her name is Modesty
Blaise.” The Countess tells me as
we sit down next to two gear-clad
tourists riffling through city maps.
It’s an incongruous environment—
Dýrfinna seems more fitted to an
underground industrial club than a
noisy café. Unfussed, she continues:
“Well, one day I was making a song
with my friend Lord Pusswhip and
he asked me what I wanted to call
myself. I immediately said Modesty
Blaise and he rhymed back Coun-
tess Malaise. I looked up the defini-
tion and I was like ‘damn that fits’.”
Thus, Countess Malaise was born.
The Modesty Blaise is just one of
many bizarre influences on her mu-
sic. Dýrfinna immediately strikes
you as one of those people whose
CD rack or internet history you’d
want to rifle through—everything
Music
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38The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2017
Dýrfinna Benita is Countess Malaise
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