Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Blaðsíða 31

Music 31The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 20— 2018
Port, at night
“Music is more
about the things
that aren’t there
rather than the
things that are.”
T RACK BY TRACK
‘Night Music’ By
PORT
A sonic world of repetition,
minimalism and pure goth
Words: PORT & Hannah Jane Cohen
Photos: Matthew Eisman

LP
‘Píanó í þokunni’ is out now
Above all else, PORT seeks to dive
deep into alienation and escapism.
Their first EP, ‘Night Music,’ came out
in September and proved without
a shadow of a doubt that these
boys—veterans of the Reykjavík
metal scene—can serve up con-
templative ambient music like the
best of them. A mix of new-wave
goth, synth-wave and alternative,
their music is truly something new
on the Icelandic scene. So if you’re a
reformed goth, soundscape obses-
sée, or just someone who really likes
deep vocals and drum machines,
PORT is a must-listen.
We sat down with the com-
poser of the group, Andri V. Haralds-
son, to go through the album track
by track.

As The Lights Fade
The intro was written and performed
by Martijn de Groot, an incredible
audio engineer and friend. He com-
bined the sonic elements later heard
on the EP into a nice introduction to
the release.
Ljósbrot
This is a song about hope—how light
shines through the darkest clouds.
The song opens with me plucking
the strings of the piano, evolving
with pads and arpeggiators. But
at the core, the strings keep it to-
gether. I had the pleasure of having
my niece, Eir Ólafsdóttir, play cello on
this track, adding an organic touch
to the synthetic sounds.
The Bag
This was the first song that I wrote
after I moved to Amsterdam a little
over a year ago. As I was becoming
familiar with the new setting in my
day-to-day life, I started to explore
new sonic possibilities in music. At
the time, I was reading Bukowski’s
‘Factotum’ and the overall gritty tone
of the book was a very big influence
on the song.

Get It On
Get It On’ was written and recorded
in one day. I decided to only allow
myself two takes of each vocal
track and, for better or worse, just
stick with it. The song is a very nice
example of the concepts I was work-
ing with at the time, repetition and
minimalism being the main ones. I
believe that music is all about the
little things, and often more about
the things that aren’t there rather
than the things that are. There’s a
single cymbal hit in the song, which
essentially encapsulates these
ideas.

The Night
When this song was written, I had
been exposed to Amsterdam’s night-
life for a while. After getting familiar
with the routine of it, I eventually
realised that nightlife is always the
same everywhere in the world. This
feeling creeped its way into a reverb
and synth filled session, which
became this song.

Swans
This one came to be in the alienating
state of having moved somewhere
new and not knowing anyone. That
feeling of necessary loneliness
translated itself into a song filled
with many layers of guitars, synths
and harmonised vocals. For me, the
song is like a nice blanket. It’s also
one of the better mixes I had made
at the time, so it holds a couple of
personal milestones.
Late To The Party
With this song, I once again set some
restrictions for myself. I wanted
to write a song with no more than
three chords and some vocals. The
sessions spent on this one were very
enjoyable. They were also creative
as the vocals—which were never a
big focus point before—really had to
hold the song up. ‘Late To The Party’
is a nice way to end the EP as the
core concepts of it, repetition and
minimalism, are seen here in their
most basic form.
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