Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.10.2018, Qupperneq 34

The Search For
The Ghost Duck
The epic journey of Berghaim’s concept album
“Songs From The Young Earth”
Words: Phil Uwe Widiger Photo: Berghaim
Airwaves & LP
Berghaim is the solo-project of Ber-
gur Thomas Anderson of Grísalappalí-
sa and Oyama. Listen at soundcloud.
com/bergurta and catch him live at
Iceland Airwaves 2018.
Berghaim is a character that is
half-hidden and half-visible. The
only thing that can be seen is his
face, buried in the ground. Having
spent most of his life in solitude,
his life was shaped by the sounds
that surround him, to which he
is constantly listening. His two
best friends are ducks that come
to hang out with him regularly,
and to listen to him sing. They
also study camouflage. When one
duck disappears because it was al-
ready better at camouflage than
the other duck, an epic search for
“the ghost duck” ensues.
Welcome to the fantastical
world of Berghaim.
A face in the earth
Bergur Thomas Anderson is the
mastermind behind Berghaim.
After playing in bands such as
Grísalappalísa and Oyama, he has
been focusing on performance art.
“When I moved to the Netherlands,
all of a sudden I had nobody to
make music with,” he remembers.
“So I started writing music on my
own, which evolved into making
music for performance pieces.”
Berghaim—“a character who is
essentially a face in the earth”—
came into existence about a year
ago when Bergur began research-
ing camouflage the-
ories. “I’ve always
thought about him
as a younger, more
i n n o c e nt e a r t h ,
related to Iceland
being a relatively
recent geographical
phenomena com-
pared to the rest of
the world,” Bergur
explains. “By con-
stantly l isten ing
to al l the sounds
around him, he has
acquired knowledge and ideas
about society and culture.”
After spending all those years
since the formation of Iceland in
solitude, Berghaim learned how
to speak and sing on his own. Op-
erating a pirate radio station that
broadcasts a mix of sounds, he be-
came the world’s first ever sound
collage artist.
A voice in progress
This summer, Bergur had the op-
portunity to go record in a music
studio in Rotterdam, using mainly
the old synth and keyboard equip-
ment available at the studio. The
evolution of the songs was spon-
taneous, as Bergur was learning
how to use the instruments at the
same time he was recording. “With
this project I was able to free my-
self from the burden of perfection,
which is dominant in the mak-
ing of a pop album,” he explains.
Berghaim is a voice in progress,
finding perfection in imperfec-
tion.
Of ghost ducks and
magicians
The theme of the concept album,
inspired by the practice of tarot,
revolves around the epic journey
of regaining some-
thing lost and grow-
i ng th roug h the
journey itself. In
Berghaim’s case, it
is the search for one
of his duck friends
that disappeared.
Along the way, the
protagonists also
meet “the hermit’s
friend,” who is a
magician and the
gatekeeper to the
underworld. He has
the powers to make things dis-
appear. Is the hermit’s friend the
reason for the ghost duck’s disap-
pearance?
B e r g u r a i m s t o r e l e a s e
Berghaim’s debut album “Songs
From The Young Earth” before his
performance at this year’s Iceland
Airwaves music festival. Will the
ghost duck be found? We’ll find out
this November.
Music
Berghaim mixing up sounds with ducks on the side
“I was able to
free myself
from the bur-
den of perfec-
tion, which is
dominant in
the making of a
pop album.”
Suðurgata 41
101 Reykjavík
www.thjodminjasafn.is
tel +354 530 22 00
Hverfisgata 15
101 Reykjavík
www.safnahusid.is
tel +354 530 22 10
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