Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2018, Side 38

Build The Pattern,
Break It Apart
Munstur focus on the repetitions
Words: Rex Beckett Photo: Timothée Lambrecq
Info
Check out Munstur at:
www.facebook.com/munsturband/
On a sunny, breezy late afternoon,
bandmates Kristinn Arnar Sig-
urðsson and Atli Arnarson stroll
calmly across the grassy Haga-
torg roundabout towards the ce-
ment statue platform in its centre.
Dressed in workers’ clothes and
hand-painted sneakers, the pair
are easy going and friendly, tell-
ing me that they’re there to build
a stage for an event on Reykjavík’s
annual Culture Night.
“We’re gonna build a stage
shaped like our logo, which is four
3-D Ms connected on the corners,
and we’re going to have a concert
and there will be many visual art-
ists too,” says Atli. “We like to have
a pretty complex set design for our
live shows, but that can be pretty
hard when you’re playing festivals,
so it’s great to be able to have as
complex a setup as we want.”
Their Culture Night event, en-
titled MMMM á Menningarnótt,
was only the pair’s second gig in
their current format, their first
was only a few weeks earlier at the
LungA festival. Having met while
studying at the Menntaskóli við
Hamrahlíð college, Munstur orig-
inally formed as a four-piece in-
die rock band five years ago. Two
members quit and,
since then, Kris-
tinn and Atli have
been working on an
album and study-
ing art and sound
engineering, re-
spectively.
“It’s easier to do
when it’s just two
of us,” says Kris-
tinn. “I think we
have more freedom
to discover things
that we’re curious
about. We always
get crazy ideas and
we want to just fol-
low them.” Togeth-
er the pair have
become particu-
larly focused on
creating a strong visual element
alongside their music, which is ev-
ident in their hyper-colourful and
engaging music videos. They have
particularly focussed on the theme
of repetition.
“It’s kind of the connection be-
tween the human and mechanical
things,” says Atli. “The name of the
band means ‘pattern’ and I think
it’s been interesting to us for a long
time, the repetition of something.”
“We’re just always finding more
and more ways to work with that
concept of repetition, because it’s
all around you,” Kristinn contin-
ues. “Sometimes humans are just
doing the same thing over and over
again. I think that’s not something
humans should be doing in the fu-
ture. Those are roles that will be
replaced by mechanics.”
While working with this very
open but clear concept and their
s t r o n g v i s u a l
sense, Munstur’s
b i g g e s t h u r d l e
now is translating
their music from
recording in a Gra-
farvogur garage to
the live context.
“ We ’r e m o r e
interested in do-
ing unusual shows
like playing out-
side somewhere or
on a rooftop, rather
than a regular ven-
ue,” says Kristinn,
s u b c o n s c i o u s l y
wanting to subvert
the pattern of the
live concert. “It’s
interesting to play
where people are
not expecting to see concerts or
show visual art where people are
not in the situation to see it. We
find it interesting to interrupt
people in their daily life, not to
have it on some pedestal.”
Music
Munstur, the band not the cheese
“Sometimes
humans are
just doing the
same thing
over and over
again. I think
that’s not
something hu-
mans should
be doing in
the future.”
Suðurgata 41
101 Reykjavík
www.thjodminjasafn.is
tel +354 530 22 00
Hverfisgata 15
101 Reykjavík
www.safnahusid.is
tel +354 530 22 10
National Museum of Iceland
The country’s largest
museum of cultural
history from settlement
to present day.
The Culture House
Manuscripts, fine art, natural
specimens, curiosities and
archeaological findings form
the exhibition Points of View.
National
Museum of
Iceland
The
Culture
House
The exhibitions, shops and cafés are open daily 10 - 17 Closed on Mondays 16/9 – 30/4
Open 12 - 6 pm - daily in September then Thursday - Sunday
Only 40 minutes drive from Reykjavik - on the Golden Circle
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