Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Síða 24

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THE SOUNDSCAPE
OF LIFE
EinarIndra finds his rhythm
Words: Alice Demurtas
As years go, 2017 was an exciting
one for EinarIndra—although per-
haps not as prolific as he would
have liked, music-wise. After the
birth of his baby girl, Einar has in
fact had very little time to focus
on his art. “So the fact that I’ve re-
ceived an award for my music feels
quite nice,” he laughs.
It wasn’t until his latest album
‘Stories’ that Einar captured the
attention of the public and critics
alike with his dreamy electronic
beats and high-pitched vocals. He
has often been likened to James
Blake and even The XX for his
soft, intimate songs. Yet, Einar
prefers to distance himself from
such comparisons; what he does is
purely his own thing.
JUST LIKE PAINTING
Despite the success of his songs,
Einar only recently started jux-
taposing lyrics with his music. “I
used to play piano in Húsavík when
I was in high school and then I got
a CD filled with music software,”
he says. “That’s when I really start-
ed focusing on making music. It
was sort of glitchy electronica.”
Focusing on melodies and beats
always came naturally to Einar. “I
have always been interested more
in beats and sound design,” he
explains. “The vocals came later.
Lyrics are more or less like a paint-
ing—you have these words, and
they have to be right for the direc-
tion they’re going.But they also
have to fit into the melody and the
song as well.”
What makes this task particu-
larly hard, he explains, is making
the synthetic nature of electron-
ics and the analogue sound of
his voice fit together. “It’s quite a
headache,” he laughs.
KEEP IT SLOW
Perhaps because of this atten-
tion to detail, Einar seems to have
found his sound. ‘Stories’ has a
Sunday morning vibe with its slow
tempo, but it also succeeds in be-
ing a sensual experience, keep-
ing its pace all the way through.
“Sometimes you can make things
just too complicated, when a sim-
pler version of it can flow much
better,” Einar explains.
Simplicity, however, is not all
there is to it. These hushed melo-
dies come so naturally to Einar
that even when he tries to veer
away from his downtempo sound
and speed things up a little, he al-
ways ends up hitting the brakes.
“I’ve landed in a comfort zone,
and I like the soundscape of it,” he
says. “I’ve tried doing faster songs
but, in the end, they always feel off
compared to my life rhythm.”
Headed to Portugal to take time
off from his job, Einar is deter-
mined to go back to working on his
music in 2018. Whether the south-
ern sun will slow his tempo down
or speed it up, the future looks
bright for EinarIndra.
Meet
The
Panel
Andrea Jónsdóttir
A well-known and widely re-
spected veteran broadcaster
and DJ, Andrea Jónsdottir can
often been found spinning vi-
nyl in downtown Reykjavík bar
Dillon, or championing new
music on the radio via Ice-
land’s state broadcaster, RÚV,
where she has worked since
1984. With her open-minded
taste, sense of adventure, and
keen eye for emerging talents,
Andrea was pivotal in helping
us decide these awards. Takk
fyrir, Andrea!
Cheryl K. Ang
Cheryl is the newest arrival
at the Iceland Music Export
agency, also known as IMX. Her
mission on a day-to-day basis
is to comb through reams of
new Icelandic releases, pro-
moting them to the music
industry and the public alike
via newsletters, blog entries,
playlists, and social media.
As such, few people listen to
more Icelandic music than
Cheryl, making her a perfect
panellist for the 2017 awards.
Cheers, Cheryl!
Egill Tómasson
As the longest serving mem-
ber in the production team
behind Iceland’s most re-
spected music festival, Egill
is a true expert on the local
scene. Every year, Iceland Air-
waves receives hundreds of
applications from homegrown
bands, and it’s a major part of
Egill’s day-to-day work to stay
on top of which bands have
recently emerged, found their
stride onstage, broken new
creative ground, or dropped
the album of their career. Skál,
Egill! JR
Special Thanks:
We'd like to thank Reykja-
vík Excursions, Dogma and
Tónastöðin for providing priz-
es to our winners. Also, special
thanks to the Grái Kötturinn
café at Hverfisgata 16 for
hosting the photo shoot.
Artist To Watch:
EinarIndra
The soft vocals of EinarIndra are
what dreams are made of. His
sound has been compared to
that of The XX or James Blake, but
what he does is purely his own
work. “It’s kind of on-trend, but
with a beautiful voice and an ex-
perimental edge,” one panelist
said enthusiastically. “He could be
huge.”
Despite having made music
for a while, EinarIndra worked
mostly on making beats until
only recently, when he decided to
experiment with his voice by in-
troducing it into his most recent
release, ‘Stories.’ The result is new,
yet oddly familiar, like recognising
someone in a crowd who you’ve
never actually met before. Einar is
an emerging artist, but his poten-
tial is undeniable. Remember his
melancholic gloom, because he is
definitely here to stay.
People's Choice:
Hórmónar
This year, we decided to give our
readers a say, running a Face-
book poll from the panel's short-
list of 30 artists. With over 1000
votes cast, the winners were
feminist rock 'n' roll quintet Hór-
mónar. Read our interview with
Hórmónar at gpv.is/horm.
24 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2018