Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.10.2017, Page 35

Another World
Onstage
Sunna is rising
Words: Steindór Grétar Jónsson Photo: Senta Simond
The polished electronica of Sun-
na Margrét Þórisdóttir—who as a
musician, goes by simply Sunna—
sounds almost surgical at times, yet
somehow fluid. “It doesn’t happen by
accident, but it’s not exactly planned
either,” she explains. “The lyrics and
song—I just do it. I don’t plan ahead.
Sometimes when I record the vocals,
I just press play and sing, so the mel-
ody and lyrics may
just appear in the
first take.”
A veteran of the
electro pop band
Bloodgroup, Sunna
now studies visual art
in Lausanne, Switzer-
land. She maintains
that her approach to
the two artforms is
interconnected. In
fact, her debut single ‘Hero Slave’ was
composed in art history class, even if
the lyrics came partly in her sleep. “I
had a vivid dream about a dog I knew
when I was a child,” she says. “And he
was talking to me, I don’t remember
about what. It’s weird, but fits the
song, since it’s weird, too.”
Stage fright, stage
delight
Sunna has been performing in front
of people her whole life. She’s the
daughter of legendary musician Þórir
Baldursson, whose international
credits include collaborations with
Donna Summer, Grace Jones and
Giorgio Moroder. As a child, Sunna
would perform with
her father at family
events—oftentimes a
song he wrote for the
band Dátar, ‘Leyn-
darmál.’ At age 18, Sun-
na joined Bloodgroup,
and started touring
extensively, both do-
mestically and abroad.
Despite all this
experience, she still
suffers from stage fright. “If I’m with
a band, it’s easier,” she explains. “I’m
not alone on stage, going ‘Hey, look
at me!’ I can breathe easier. But still,
especially in Iceland, I get massive
stage fright. I once performed at The
Icelandic Music Awards and I really
don’t remember doing it! I was just
so nervous, I felt like I was dying. I
don’t know how to get rid of this.”
She’s been able to adjust, to some
extent, for the sake of the end goal.
“Three minutes before I go onstage
I feel like I need to pee really bad,
even if I don’t have to,” she says. “You
just tell yourself, ‘No, you don’t have
to pee, just go on stage!’ And if you
power through, it goes away. Then
when you’ve passed the point of no
return, you reach this stage-high. And
the feeling that comes over you, out
there singing and playing, the lights
and smoke enveloping you—it’s just
another world. It’s crazy, absolutely
crazy. Maybe that’s why I go on.”
Visual performances
Sunna is set to perform off-venue at
Iceland Airwaves, with bassist Ingib-
jörg Turchi and guitarist Mr. Silla.
“I was so happy when they said yes,”
Sunna says. “I had this dream team
in my head and I couldn’t believe
that I could get such a great group
together.” Their first concert is at
7pm on Wednesday, 1 November, at
Mengi, followed by a Kaffibarinn per-
formance at 5pm on Friday.
Concertgoers can expect Sunna’s
visual art background to bleed into
her live performances, as it does with
her music. “My concert at LungA Fes-
tival this summer is the best exam-
ple,” she says. “It was essentially an
installation, because I painted this
massive plastic sheet and hung it up
to project visuals onto it. It felt more
like an experience than just a concert,
which is exactly what I was going for.”
35 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 19 — 2017

THIS AD SPACE IS RESERVED FOR
ROSENBERG KLAPPARSTÍG 27 TO
ADVERTISE THEIR LOVELY BREAKFAST
& LUNCH WHICH EVERYONE ARE
TALKING ABOUT

THIS AD SPACE IS RESERVED FOR
ROSENBERG KLAPPARSTÍG 27 TO
ADVERTISE THEIR LOVELY BREAKFAST
& LUNCH WHICH EVERYONE ARE
TALKING ABOUT
“You reach this
stage-high out
there singing
and playing,
with the lights
and smoke en-
veloping you.”
The emerging artist... emerging from the fjord, in this case
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