Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2019, Side 34

Music
Warm Is The
House Band
Warmland emerge with their
debut album ‘Unison Love’
Words & Photo: Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir
Album & Concert
‘Unison Love’ is out on June
21st. You can listen Warmland at
warmland.bandcamp.com and see
them live at Secret Solstice 2019
Warm are most things that start
close to home. Emerging pop duo
Warmland are Arnar Guðjónsson
and Hrafn Thoroddsen—both
prominent figures in the Icelandic
music scene. Arnar is a producer
and the lead singer and guitarist
of Leave, while Hrafn is a founding
member, singer and guitarist of
Ensími and Jet Black Joe.
Night shift day shift
The band started as an in-house
recording project in the studio the
two members share. Arnar works
as a producer in the day and Hrafn
has the nights, they felt they need-
ed a house band. “We set up a meet-
ing, around two years ago,” says
Hrafn. “It turns out that Arnar had
started this project Warmland, in
some form, and we kind of pooled
our resources.”
The two set the direction for
where they wanted to take the
sound and production. The dif-
ferent elements they bring to
the collaboration are audible,
and between them, they handle
everything from recording, pro-
duction and mixing, to videos,
stage lights and visuals.
“We set a goal that we didn’t
want to have any barriers or lim-
itations,” says Hrafn. “If an idea
makes sense and is interesting,
then we’ll allow it.”
Something
completely new
At the core, the outcome is pop
music given extra nuance by a
fusion of electronic and acoustic
sounds. Warmland
use a drum kit and
bass guitars along-
side programmed
electronic sounds,
keyboards and syn-
thesizers. W hat-
ever a song needs,
they’re unafraid of
breaking out of the
common pop structure. “I think
we try to avoid doing similar stuff
that we used to do in other pro-
jects,” says Arnar. “We’re are try-
ing to bring the experience and
create something completely new
for us.”
There’s also a tension between
melancholy and joy that gives the
band its specific personality. The
lyrics further add to this nuance.“
It’s layers of different things,” says
Arnar. “It has a melancholy vibe
in the melodies, then it has the
groove beneath. I play the drums
and the bass, that’s my depart-
ment; I am looking for groove in
everything, so it moves you. On top
of that, we have the more atmos-
pheric soundscapes.”
True summer
album
Their second single, the titular
“Unison Love,” has an unusual
structure, and one of the most di-
verse soundscapes the band have
yet revealed. “The drums and bass
are a really important factor there
as well,” says Hrafn. “It’s one of the
first tracks for me, actually, where
I felt the groove foundation was
well laid. It has this kind of laid
back pop vibe to it.”
‘Unison Love’ is a true summer
album. With a warm atmosphere
and a lyrical, melancholic under-
tone, it’s bittersweet, and solid
throughout. You can see the band
at t he S e c ret
Solstice festival,
which runs from
21st-23rd June—
first in an ice
cave on Satur-
day, then at the
ma i n fest iv a l
site on Sunday,
w h e n t h e y ’ l l
share a stage with Patti Smith
and Robert Plant. You can also
catch them at Iceland Airwaves
in November. Until then, may you
be warm and well of heart with a
record that will keep you ‘After
Dark.’
“We set a goal
that we didn’t
want to have any
barriers or
limitations.”
34The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10— 2019
Just a couple of guys havin' a great time by the docks
gpv.is/music
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