Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2019, Blaðsíða 35

35The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14— 2019
Coming
Out Of The
Woodworks
Krassasig emerges with a fresh
music and new objectives
Words: Freya Dinesen Photo: Art Bicnick
Album
You can stay updated with
Krassasig’s future releases and
upcoming gigs via his Facebook
page. Krassasig will be playing at
Iceland Airwaves 2019. Tickets are
on sale now.
Krassasig is a brand-spankin' new
solo project from Kristinn Arnar
Sigurðsson, who released his debut
single, ‘Brjóta heilann’, earlier in
the summer.
Renown for his vibrant multi-
media works with art/music duo
Munstur, Kristinn is now turning
his focus to different musical as-
pirations, developing his produc-
tion and songwriting virtuosity,
through working alone, as well
with other musicians and produc-
ers.
Making an entrance
‘Brjóta heilann’ was unveiled via
a quirkily choreographed live per-
formance video as part of the Ice-
land Airwaves x Landsbankinn se-
ries—a pretty remarkable platform
for an introduction.
"This [video] was the absolute
debut of this project,'' he says. “I
was starting this new project, so
I showed them some of the songs
we’d been making and they were
really keen.”
Seeing great potential in Kras-
sasig’s preliminary repertoire,
Iceland Airwaves were eager to
put him on this year’s lineup. As to
how soon we may hear these other
tracks, only time will tell.
“It was exciting for me to just
throw out one song from the
things I have been
making, but since
then, I don’t have
anything else im-
mediate”, he men-
tions, with a slight
tone of dismay. “I
have a lot of stuff
that I’m working
on, but it would
have been nice to
have followed it more immediately.
It’s going to come later, around the
beginning of the fall.”
Behind the music
With Krassasig’s first offering, the
sonically delightful blend of or-
ganic instrumentation and velvety
production came as a collaborative
effort between Kristinn, pop dar-
ling Auður and jazz boss Magnús
Jóhann. 
“Auður is good at constructing
things to be really polished, while
I’m good at doing things really im-
perfectly–more raw and natural,''
says Kristinn. “Magnús Jóhann is
also a big part of this project as
well,'' he adds. “He does a lot with
synths, drum loops and modifying
the arrangements.” 
Translating these songs for live
performances will likely see an ex-
tension in the project's collabora-
tive team. "I want to do something
special with the live shows,'' Kris-
tinn says, ardently.
"My goal is to get an imperfect,
natural performance that comes
in a pop, polished form, so you feel
it is very well organised and con-
structed, but still has an organic
foundation.”
Behind the name
In addition to serving as an acro-
nym for Kristinn's full name, there
is wit behind the moniker that
works on multiple levels.
"It’s quite hard to explain in Eng-
lish," he says, trying to translate.
“It rhymes with
a phrase in Ice-
landic, ‘passasig,’
which means ‘be
careful.’ It also
rhymes with an-
o t h e r p h r a s e ,
‘ m a s s a s i g , ’
meaning to just
‘go full-on.’ I of-
ten joke that the
meaning [behind the name] is a
new word that I made up and the
meaning behind that is a mixture
of those two words: be careful, but
go full-on.”
“‘Krass’ also has a double mean-
ing,” he continues. “[It's] like a cym-
bal crash and also a rough sketch.
I work with both in visual art and
music, and it’s a word that has
meaning in both of those things.”
“My goal is to get
an imperfect,
natural perfor-
mance that still
has an organic
foundation.”
Hitchiking or rocking?
gpv.is/music
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