Reykjavík Grapevine - Oct 2020, Page 24

Sombre Sparkle &
Ghostly Glamour
Mi!hty Bear on their extrava!ant new EP and the
masked fantasy
Words: Catherine Magnúsdóttir Photos: Birta Rán
EP
Listen to Mighty Bear’s new EP 'Tveir'
on all streaming platforms.
One of the most ethereal faces of
Iceland’s electronic music scene
ironically hardly shows his face at
all. That enigmatic figure, Mighty
Bear a.k.a. Magnús Bjarni Gröndal,
embodies both eerie darkness
and sparkling glamor through
extravagant cloaks and intricate
masks, all underscored by ethereal
beats and lyrics. All of this shines
through in his newest EP ‘Tveir’.
Once upon a dream
Over five tracks, Mighty Bear
takes his listeners on an emo-
tional, dreamlike—and at times
nightmarish–journey. A spiritual
release with the flair of a person-
al dramatic soundtrack, ‘Tveir’
walks the line between comforting
and uneasy. That said, there’s still
something about the sound that’s
universally accessible.
Adorned with a magnificently
large set of sunglasses, Mighty
Bear basks as he divulges the or-
igins of the edgy and emotional
EP. “For me, music is expressing
myself, so I try to create a sound
that only I can create,” the artist
says. “Especially with the new EP.
It’s very personal lyric-wise and I
spent months creating these synth
layers so that they emotionally
come through as well as the lyrics
and the vocals.”
The track “Yfir” is emblemat-
ic of this. The song pulls at your
heartstrings with harrowing vo-
cals and dramatic beats to simul-
taneously create a feeling of long-
ing and a sense of inner strength.
“I started the EP when I was in
the middle of a heartbreak, so that
definitely shows through. I have
always found comfort in sombre
and melancholic things, so it was
definitely a way for me to kind
of get through the relationship
and figure out who I was again,”
Mighty Bear explains.
Behind the mask
A self-described fantasy and sci-fi
fan, Mighty admits he finds deep
inspiration—both consciously and
subliminally—in those genres.
Upon further inspection, the
touch of artists like David Bowie
are hard to miss. It’s not difficult
to envision Mighty Bear as a side
character in ‘Labyrinth’.
Mighty Bear built his aesthetic
with the help of Iceland’s rising
drag scene, which gave him the
opportunity and encouragement
to explore his glamorous side, with
glittering gowns, full scale gold
crowns and other ornate pieces.
Starting out at drag shows, he was
able, “to create the fantasy mythi-
cal character that is Mighty Bear.”
Later, Mighty Bear made intri-
cate masks—a gentler alternative
to drag make-up—his trademark
symbol, furthering his mysterious
and mystical persona. His fringy
style and ever-growing collection
of masks create an interplay be-
tween the visual and the audio. A
mask, he emphasises, makes one
focus on the sound, but his oth-
erworldly appearance intertwines
with the music, adding another
dimension to it. As Mighty Bear,
the artist says he had the opportu-
nity to create something uniquely
his own, without compromise and
with the freedom to express every
aspect of his personality—both
his masculine and feminine sides.
“Fantasy fits [me] very well,
because then I can be something
that’s not male and not female,”
he concludes. “I’m just being the
purest expression of myself.”
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24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2020
A masked Queen? Mighty Bear was way ahead of their time
Music
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