Reykjavík Grapevine - nov 2020, Qupperneq 24

'Phantom Plaza' By
RYBA
A super!roup samplin! scores of symphonies
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photos: Art Bicnick
Track By Track
Grab Phantom Plaza on RYBA's
Bandcamp page.
RYBA's debut release 'Phantom
Plaza' was a two-year effort that
ended up with a seven person su-
pergroup featuring Heimir Ges-
tur Valdimarsson on guitar, An-
dri Eyjólfsson on samples, Baldur
Hjörleifsson on bass, Elísabet
Birta Sveinsdóttir on vocals, Kor-
mákur Jarl Gunnarsson on MOOG
synthisiser, Laufey Soffía on vo-
cals and Sigur!ur Möller Sívertsen
on drums—all artists you might
recognise from groups like Andi,
Kælan Mikla, Grísalappalísa and
more. Heimir sat down with the
Grapevine to run through 'Phan-
tom Plaza' track by track.
The album 'Phantom Plaza' was
written in a transitional time after
being in Poland for the past few
years and then settling down in
Reykjavík again. I had sent my in-
struments from Poland and they
came many months later half-
moulded and wet. After drying
my guitars and bass, many things
started to come together and I
saw a way to make an album that I
had wanted to make but never had
any time for. Colleagues started
to gather and my instruments
became dry and sharp—sharper
than before.
Stalker
We took the lyrics to a pretty dark
place, leaving out all sense of con-
tinuity and linear storytelling.
The lyrics are cut-ups from a film
script I had written inspired by
noir films like 'Night Of The Hunt-
er' (1956). Baldur wrote the song
with me and totally got it. He cre-
ated haunting guitar noises as well
as some creepy sounds that I don’t
even know what they are anymore.
No Going Back
"No Going Back" is mainly Baldur's
creation. We sampled another
ghostly song of ours and this one
came out of it. It went through our
grinder machines of kraut, John
Cassavetes film scores and The
Cramps.
Too Bad You Should Know…
This one came after listening to
"Liquid Swords" by GZA as well
as working in construction work
power-washing houses.
Alltof miki!
"Alltof miki!" was the first song
written for this album and the
whole album was only supposed
to be songs like this—everything
done very quickly with short and
fast songs that were all under two
minutes. It did not go that way and
this album became something dif-
ferent. "Alltof miki!" means “Way
too much.”
Take You Home
This song is sampled from anoth-
er RYBA song called "Girls." It’s a
travel song and Kormákur’s work
in this one is one of his best per-
formances on the album. He plays
on a Moog synthesiser; it reminds
me of "The Black Riders & Flight to
the Ford" by Bo Hansson.
Wygl"daj" Naturalnie
This song was written in one eve-
ning. Every recording was the first
and final take. We love Poland and
connect to Polish people and this
song is an echo from the past. It
plays with cumbia and popular
songs from 30s Polish radio. This
creates a sound, which is defined
through the album—blending art
forms and genres that you don’t
expect to fit together.
Standing Man
"Standing Man" was originally a
series of photographs and draw-
ings by me and our drummer Sígó,
but it became this song and other
things. It is a continuing process
about a standing man.
Only 4 You
Kormákur writes: This song really
came together when some of us
were having a night out. Heimir
had created the basic loop of the
song and late in the night we de-
cided to try to record vocals. I was
in a good mood, someone handed
me a mic and sang the lyrics in a
falsetto, which Elísabet would lat-
er go on to sing. The song became
a calling for something that was in
the past and trying to reach it, but
having to accept that everything
goes on and nothing will be the
same. The symphony is recorded
by Heimir in his car listening to
Rondo radio and the song ends in
a loop which eventually destroys
itself like an old tape which has
been played many times through
the decades.
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24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09— 2020
A Big Band
Music