Reykjavík Grapevine - nóv. 2019, Blaðsíða 16

The R
eykjavík G
rapevine
Iceland A
irw
aves Special 20
19
16
“For a long time, this project has
been extremely self-indulgent,”
admits Ösp Eldjárn, somewhat
bashfully. The project in ques-
tion is Hrím, a collaboration be-
tween herself and fellow musi-
cians Anil Sebastian and Cherif
Hashizume. Musically, they
bring together a variety of dif-
ferent styles, creating a unique
sound that matches traditional
Icelandic poetry with electron-
ic soundscapes and orchestral
swoops.
The band performed a small
run of gigs in 2016, but have
since appeared to be dormant
to outside eyes. The announce-
ment that Hrím will play their
first Icelandic gig as part of this
year’s Iceland Airwaves festival
(coupled with the release of a
handful of new singles), has
thrust them back into public
awareness. Despite the appar-
ent stasis, Ösp reassures that
plenty has been going on below
the surface. “We’ve been creat-
ing music in this kind of flow
state, just improvising and do-
ing a jam session, basically,” she
explains. “We reflect on it and
take pieces that were good and
somehow we create songs.”
Diverse backgrounds
Despite their limited output,
Hrím have managed to craft a
distinctive sound, one that co-
hesively reflects the individual
influences and backgrounds of
each band member. Ösp, who is
originally from Svarfaðardalur,
grew up surrounded by folk and
traditional music and poetry,
before going on to study both
classical and jazz singing.
While completing her stud-
ies in London, she met the lead-
er of London Contemporary
Voices, Anil Sebastian. “We had
the same approach to singing
and we just felt like we need-
ed to work together,” she says.
Cherif, an electronic artist and
producer, joined later. “He came
in kind of as the third element
and he brought in the sound-
scape thing which is another
layer of our sound.” Cherif is a
long-time collaborator of Jon
Hopkins, co-producing his hit
single ‘Emerald Rush’ that was
released last year.
Making time
In fact, all three artists have a
sparkling roster of former col-
laborators, albeit from quite
different musical circles. Ösp
predominantly performs her
own acoustic folk compositions,
but she was previously a mem-
ber of Icelandic bluegrass group
Brother Grass. Anil, on the oth-
er hand, has worked with the
likes of Guy Sigsworth, Imogen
Heap and Manu Delago.
Ösp recognises that their
busy work schedules and
other projects have held them
back from investing more time
in Hrím. However, the opportu-
nity to play at Airwaves has been
the push they have been looking
for to commit to launching the
group as a fully-fledged act.
“We have more music that we
have been writing as well, so we
just want this set to be out and
then we can continue,” she says.
“We’re not going to go back to
just being nerdy in a basement
somewhere making weird nois-
es.”
Hrím
WED 6th 20:20, Gaukurinn
THU 7th 20:50, Fríkirkjan
“We’re not going to go
back to just being nerdy
in a basement making
weird noises.”
Hrím is ready to thrill at Iceland Airwaves.
Words: Josie Gaitens Photo: Provided by Hrím
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