Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2018, Qupperneq 25

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dows and no air at all. We spent
a year down there trying out dif-
ferent things, and somehow came
up with this sound. I think it still
sounds fresh, like a fresh salad is
fresh. It’s crispy.”
Do it yourself
Örvar is reluctant to admit that
múm’s early output was influen-
tial musically. “I don’t really care
about the sound of the aesthetic—
we made these albums, and they
are there,” he says. “But like a lot of
bands before us in Iceland, we had
a do it yourself attitude. Maybe
that part of it, we can be proud of.”
Múm are still active today, on
a project-by-project basis. Since
their last album, ‘Smilewound,’
they’ve created the film score for
the acclaimed
Icelandic f i lm
‘Svanurinn,’ and
the ‘Menschen
am Sonntag’ EP,
which evolved
from an impro-
vised score over
a si lent f i l m.
“Doing projects
like that suits the mind space
we’re in now more so than doing
albums and promo tours,” says
Örvar. “I personally get more out
of these kinds of projects.”
Team Dreams
‘Light is Liquid’ was made dur-
ing an “avalanche of things” that
included the múm projects, and
working on the
‘Team Dreams’
LP with Sin Fang
and sóley. The
three toured the
a lbu m a rou nd
Europe recently,
with four dates
in China coming
up soon. Their
show opens each
night with three conjoined twen-
ty-minute solo sets—an organic
and low-pressure way to take the
solo project on the
road. “I don’t think
I would do a head-
line tour for this
record,” says Ör-
var. “It would feel
like starting over
again.”
The album still
has a marked col-
laborative element, with vocal con-
tributions from Sillus, JFDR and
sóley. “This ‘solo project’ thing is
weird because every music proj-
ect you do has a different level of
collaboration,” Örvar explains. “I
worked on it with a lot of friends.
It’s not a statement album—it’s
the things that were running
around in my head at that point,
and found that way out, instead of
something else.”
Ör var is sti l l
getting to know
his solo album—
a process that, for
him, usually takes
years.
“I st i l l haven’t
been able to assess
what this album
is, but I’m very
happy with it,” he finishes. “I’m
just watching the dust settle after
this crazy year and seeing where
all these songs from last year are
landing. With the múm albums,
it’s always three or four years later
that I find the meaning of the lyr-
ics. On this album, there’s a lot of
references to physics—a subject I
really don’t know anything about.
I’m really looking forward to five
years from now, when the lyrics
make sense to me.”.
“I think it still
sounds fresh,
like a fresh
salad is fresh.
It’s crispy.”
“I’m really look-
ing forward to
five years from
now, when the
lyrics make
sense to me.”
A founding member of múm, this is Örvar's first solo record
25The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2018
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