Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2020, Síða 15

15 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2020
For his 2018 Sónar Reykajvík set, Bjarki
reached out to friends Daníel Heimis-
son and Baldvin Vernhar!sson to
collaborate on the audio-visual aspects
of the performance. The result of this
fateful partnership was a true feast for
the senses. It also resulted in Daníel
and Baldvin teaming up to form a new
video art duo, Video1. The two would
later reconnect with Bjarki to direct
and produce the music video for ‘ANa5,’
from the electronic kingpin’s February
release ‘Happy Earthday’. That video
has been crowned the Grapevine’s
Music Video Of The Year.
SPINNING HEADS
& WEIRD FACES
Bjarki originally approached just
Daníel for help with his Sónar set.
“I got Baldvin involved and it really
kicked-off from there. The two of us
have worked together for years in film-
making,” Daníel explains. “We came
up with this idea of using mannequins
onstage, replacing their heads with
tube TVs showing videos of spinning
heads and weird faces.”
The visuals were memorable, and
Bjarki subsequently gave Video1 a lot
of creative freedom when they recon-
vened for ‘ANa5.’ The video was shot
over a period of three days preceding
a lengthy post-production period in
collaboration with motion-designer
Gabríel Bachmann and cinematogra-
pher Bryngeir Vattnes.
“I told Daniel what I was thinking
and he made it reality,” Bjarki says of
the process. “He is the kind of guy that
when he doesn’t know how to do some-
thing, he’ll use the opportunity to learn
how to do it.”
PLANTING SEEDS
For Bjarki, the song is meant to reflect
on environmental issues, but the video
adds another dimension to that theme.
“There are so many added layers in this
video that I notice with every watch,”
he explains. In the video, mannequins
zoom across Icelandic nature to get to
a cave where they are reunited with
their offspring. They then take part in
a mating ritual to plant seeds for a new
generation.
“It’s about us, the human race, fuck-
ing up the environment and being total
screen-junkies,” Baldvin explains. “But,
without delving too deeply into politi-
cal narrative, we mainly wanted it to
be fun to watch.” Daníel agrees. “We
were inspired by classic sci-fi films,”
he adds. “We wanted it to be glitchy,
weird and have DIY style effects meant
to appear a bit unrealistic.”
EVERYTHING
CAN HAPPEN
Bjarki was not expecting the ‘ANa5’
video to receive an award. “The main
reward for me is to be able to work with
my friends and enjoy our imagination
together,” he says. “It got less attention
than we expected, but the reaction has
been really good,” Daníel adds.
Currently, Bjarki has no official
plans for any events or parties in
Iceland anytime soon, but, as he says,
“Everything can happen!”
On the Video1 front, Daníel explains
they are always looking to do some-
thing new. “Working with Bjarki is
always exciting. We would like to do
something with other artists if they are
ready to take on bold creative projects
of any kind,” concludes Baldvín. “As
long as it’s fun!”
BEST VIDEO: BJARKI
" ‘ANA5’
PRODUCED BY
VIDEO1
YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THIS: K.ÓLA
Words: Freya Dinesen
Katrín Helga Ólafsdóttir has a natural
flair. Her ineffable style and irrefutable
talents traverse a vast array of influ-
ences to create an intriguing amalga-
mation of structures, instrumentations
and tones, with candid and perceptive
lyrics at their foundation. Already an
underground icon as the lead singer of
dream-punk band Milkhouse, Katrín
wanted to explore new territories with
her solo project, and it seemed only
natural to extend her short-hand artist
signature as a moniker for her music:
K.óla.
WATER GLASSES
& LANGUAGES
From playing water glasses to compos-
ing for strings, Katrín is known for
her exploratory approach to music,
although her composition studies at
the Iceland University of the Arts don’t
necessarily confine her to traditional
methods.
“It’s interesting to know how to do a
lot of stuff, even if you don’t use it every
day,” she explains. “It’s like learning a
language and never speaking it, but you
still know it. It can help you sometimes
when you need it—if you’re lost and
need directions.”
CREATIVE POLITICS
K.óla’s most recent record, ‘Allt ver!ur
alltílæ’, showcases this experimental
pop prowess. The album is a heartfelt,
catchy, seven song melange of genres
that took the Icelandic indie scene
by storm in 2019, culminating in her
winning a Kraumur award at the end
of the year.
Picking up where her album left
off, her new single, ‘Plastprinsessan
vaknar’, is a slow-burning ballad encom-
passed with sustained bells and strings,
poised to explore the negative spectrum
of human impact and emotion as ‘the
plastic princess awakens.’
“I think it’s more political… the
lyrics of being a plastic princess,”
Katrín reflects. “It’s from the perspec-
tive of feeling like a super-villain by
being a human because we’re destroy-
ing everything around us, and you can’t
do anything but take part in it.”
It’s a serious topic, but one that
Katrín hopes to keep entertaining. “I
think you can tell the most important
stuff with humour. People will listen
more if they’re laughing,” she contin-
ues. “What I want to do in the future,
I guess, is a mixture of both being silly
and still having a point.”
FOLLOW THE FUN
Despite achieving one goal after
another, and having a new album on
the horizon, Katrín is hard on herself,
and her thoughts often veer to the self-
critical.
"Just when I’m finishing [some-
thing]—in the final 10 metres of the
marathon—I start to doubt everything
and think ‘Why should I release this?
Is this good enough? Why was I doing
this?’” she explains. “It is weird to be
making this new album that is very
different, and the only thing I can do is
just hope people will like it because it’s
not what they would expect.”
To navigate these challenges and
find her confidence, Katrín focuses on
having fun. “There are so many pres-
sures, from being in school or being in a
group of friends,” she says. “Everybody
is doing this and that and you kind of
feel like you have to be able to do it. It’s
nice to think ‘this is fun, I’m going to
do it.’ I really want to do more of that:
follow the fun.”
“It’s nice to
think ‘this is fun,
I’m !oin! to do
it.’ I want to do
more of that:
follow the fun.”
“It’s about us, the human race, fuckin! up the envi-
ronment and bein! total screen-junkies. But, with-
out delvin! too deeply into political narrative, we
mainly wanted it to be fun to watch.”
Words: Alexander
Jean de Fontenay
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