Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.07.2019, Síða 2

Elín Elísabet is an illus-
trator and cartoonist
born and raised in
Borgarnes. At the
tender age of 15, Elín
moved to Reykjavík
and hasn’t looked
back, except for the
annual springtime
impulse to move
someplace quiet
and keep chickens.
Elín likes folk music,
stationery, seal vid-
eos, the country of
Ireland, and eggs.
Hannah Jane Cohen
is based out of Ice-
land by way of New
York. An alumni of
Columbia University,
Hannah has lived
on five continents
and speaks three
languages fluently.
Her visionary work is
known for expand-
ing the definitions of
emotion, introspec-
tion, and above all
else, taste.
John Rogers is an
Englishman who first
joined Grapevine
as a music writer,
later graduating to
Managing Editor. A
constant traveller
and a lover of art,
culture, food & night-
life, he edits our Best
of Reykjavík, Best of
Iceland, and Iceland
Airwaves sister
publications. His first
book, “Real Life,” was
published in 2014.
Shruthi Basappa
traded the warmth
of Indian summers
for Iceland's Arctic
winds. She's a food
enthusiast masquer-
ading as an architect
at Sei Studio, and
loves obsessive
attention to detail.
When not leading
our Best of Reykjavík
food panel, she can
be found trying to
become a Michelin
restaurant inspector.
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
is our Art Director.
He's responsible for
the design of the
magazine and the
cover photography.
When he's not work-
ing here, he DJs as
Terrordisco, hosts
the Funkþátturinn
radio show, or sits at
a table in a Laugarda-
lur café, drinking
copious amounts of
coffee and thinking
about fonts.
Josie Gaitens is a
Grapevine intern who
is also a freelance
arts project coor-
dinator, musician
and writer from the
Scottish Highlands.
She was once errone-
ously referred to as
the Queen of Scot-
land by a Malaysian
newspaper and has
been falsely using
that title ever since.
Andie Fontaine has
lived in Iceland since
1999 and has been
reporting since 2003.
They were the first
foreign-born mem-
ber of the Icelandic
Parliament, in 2007-
08, an experience
they recommend for
anyone who wants
to experience a
workplace where
colleagues work tire-
lessly to undermine
each other.
Felix Robertson is
a theology student
from the UK who is
currently on a gap
year and is trying,
with varying degrees
of success, to ‘find’
himself in the frigid
wastes of the north.
He likes classical
music, long walks
and really dead lan-
guages. He's one of
our current interns.
Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir
is a national treasure.
One of Iceland's
leading illustra-
tors, when she's
not drawing in her
unique style, she's
the front-woman of
Icelandic electro-
pop supergroup FM
Belfast. Her comic
strip Lóaboratorium
appears every issue
on page 8, and is also
available as a daily
dose on her Twitter.
First 16: Woman At War; Yurts Not Bombs12: WAB Rises From The Ashes Of WOW14: Child Deportation Laws Under Scrutiny 24: Hermigervill's Dystopian Iceland 34: Hátiðni Festival Takes Over Borðeyri 38: Eight Icelandic Movie Classics Reviewed
During the making of this issue, it came
as a bit of a surprise to us
in the Grapevine office to
discover that our new cover stars, Of
Monsters and Men, are Iceland’s most
listened-to band. By the metrics of
Spotify, they have 5.3 million monthly
listeners, making their month-to-
month fanbase more than double Sigur
Rós (953k) and Björk (1.5m) combined.
By this single but significant metric, Of
Monsters and Men are the most popular
group that Iceland has ever produced.
It’s an interesting development.
Since the 1990s, Iceland’s international
musical reputation has been touted for
experimentation, sublimity, sincerity
and eccentricity. Whilst wildly differ-
ent in many respects, success stories
like Björk, Sigur Rós, múm, Ólafur
Arnalds, and the late Jóhann Jóhansson
can comfortably sit on a Venn diagram
connected by their overlapping interest
in expressing a sometimes ephemeral
but always palpable sense of wonder.
But this appealingly neat picture
was never the whole story. Iceland
has a hidden history of homegrown
music—one that’s been explored by the
restless musical mind of Hermiger-
vill (P. 24), who has smashed, sliced,
and stitched back together samples
of the most obscure Icelandic releases
imaginable into quixotic homebrewed
dance music. From black metal to
coldwave (P. 27), techno, trap and—
more recently—a resurgent DIY indie
movement (P. 34), the local scene is
teeming with diverse and interesting
artists to discover. Check out our latest
selections (P. 8), and the playlist made
for us by DJ and master atmosphere
creator Z (P. 28), for some fresh meat
and deep cuts.
You can read Of Monsters and Men’s
whirlwind success story, and find out
about their new album, on page 19.
And you never know—maybe they’ll
be a gateway drug to Iceland’s wider
scene for their millions of fans. We
hope you’ll agree as you leaf through
the pages of this issue that the atten-
tion would be richly deserved. JR
Valur Grettisson is away.
EDITORIAL
A Gateway Drug
COVER ARTWORK:
Kosmonatka

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
A close collaboration
between Kosmonatka
and our Art Director, this
cover has been months
in the making. Styled
after ‘50s horror movie
posters and comic
books, it is a fairly literal
read on the band's
name, set to visuals that
represent the theme of
their new album “Fever
Dream.” Look out for
Natka's work decorating
a lot of icelandic indie
music artwork.
45: Chinese Fine Dining
At... Fine
46: Fox Spotting In
Hornstrandir
48: We Climb Iceland's
Highest Mountain

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Experience
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