Reykjavík Grapevine - des. 2020, Blaðsíða 19

19The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10— 2020
Event Picks
Ólafur Arnalds is following
the drop of his newest
album ‘some kind of
peace’ with a new short film ‘When We
Are Born,’ slated for a 2021 release. The
short film is directed by Vincent Moon
and is primarily a dance performance.
The choreographer is the legendary
Erna Ómarsdóttir, who will work in col-
laboration with the fantastic Iceland
Dance Company. Ólafur has already
proven himself to be one of the best
electro-classical-genreless artists in
the world, and we couldn’t be more
excited to see his foray onto the short-
film screen. A one-minute long trailer
has been released and it looks pretty
incredible. VG
The tallest dance-pop artist in the
world, Da!i Freyr, made a statement
to Entertainment Weekly earlier this
month that he will never perform the
hit song “Ja Ja Ding Dong” again. The
song became an unexpected smash
this year after Netflix released Will Fer-
rell’s comedy about Eurovision, entitled
‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of
Fire Saga,’ which was mainly shot in
Húsavík (which is the title of another
great song from the movie). Anyway,
Da!i performed “Ja Ja Ding Dong” once
online but he has boldly claimed—de-
spite massive pressure from fans—he
will never do it again. We suppose it’s
a big nei nei ding dong from him now,
dawg. VG
Möller Records may not be a household
name, but it’s more or less the flagship
of electronic music in Iceland. And
what’s more, they are coming up on
their ten year anniversary, which they’ll
celebrate with an anniversary album—
on vinyl, of course—which they are
currently crowdfunding through the
Karolina Fund. If a decade isn’t enough
to celebrate, it’s also their 100th
album. Möller Records was founded
in 2011 by Árni Grétar (Futuregrapher)
and Jóhann Ómarsson (Skurken). Later
on, Stefán Ólafsson (Steve Sampling)
and Frosti Jónsson (Bistro boy) joined
the team. They have worked with over
50 artists over the past decade. Pretty
good for a small homegrown label. VG
MUSIC
NEWS

Black Sundays: ‘Suspiria’ Film
Screening
December 27th - 20:00 - Bíó Paradís -
1,600 ISK
Oh wait—this whole fuckin" pan-
demic wasn’t scary enou"h for you?
Well, maybe arthouse horror with
dancin" witches is more your vibe.
If you "et too afraid, just remember
director Dario Ar"ento’s famous
quip to a journalist about "ore: “It’s
not blood, it’s red.” HJC

Bubbi Morthens
"orláksmessutónleikar
December 23rd - 22:00 - Online! -
2,000 ISK
How would you go about explaining
Bubbi Morthens? He is the top selling
recording artist in Iceland, bar
none. A former fish worker, Bubbi
became famous for songs about the
struggles of small Icelandic fishing
villages. He's like Bruce Springstein...
except Icelandic. HJC
Í Sæn# Saman: Loft Hostel Live Sessions
January 10th, 12th, 17th, 19th & More! -
Lo# Hostel YouTube & Facebook
This project is a series of
live session recordings
aptly named “Í Sæng
Saman,” which roughly
translates to “in bed
together.” Fitting as it
perfectly describes
both the nature of the
project and the current
reality we find ourselves
in. The live sessions
feature Salomé Katrín,
RAKEL, Gu!mundur
Arnars, Sandrayati
Fay, Supersport! and
Dymbrá. There is a huge
production team around
it and these sessions
will be recorded at
Loft Hostel. Because
of the pandemic, it
will be live on the Loft
Hostel Facebook page
and YouTube channel.
Salóme Katrín kicks
things off on January
10th. Gu!mundur
Arnars will perform the
12th. Dymbrá the 17th,
Supersport the 19th,
Sandrayati Fay on the
24th and finally Rakel on
the 26th. VG
Our music listin"s pa"e is on hiatus, because... reasons.
Music
Limitless,
Effortless,
Genreless
Magnús Jóhann refuses to be defined
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Art Bicnick
Single
Check out ‘Without Listening’ on all
streaming platforms.
“Basically, the whole beginning of
this whole album process was not
a single note of music, it was the
cover,” Magnús Jóhann states. He’s
referring to his recently released
effort ‘Without Listening,’ the cov-
er of which shows a haphazardly
constructed half-built house in an
industrial wasteland. It’s from a
series called ‘Waiting,’ which doc-
umented construction after Ice-
land’s economic crash.
“It’s a photograph that my old-
est brother, Ingvar Högni Ragnars-
son, took that was hanging in my
bedroom so it was the first thing
I saw in the morning and the last
thing I saw before I went to sleep.
One day, I thought ‘that might be a
nice cover’ and then I had to start
writing music because I had found
a cover,” he laughs. “As soon as
you’ve decided on some aesthetic
or visual aspect, you immediately
put yourself in some sort of mood.
And that was the atmosphere that
inspired the music.”
Two-sided tones
And like the differently coloured
materials peppering the house
on the cover, Magnús’s album is a
surprising and
delightfully con-
t ra s t i n g s on ic
experience. Me-
andering through
a murky area be-
tween post-clas-
sica l, i mprov i-
sational jazz and
dark electronica,
you could perhaps
ca l l h i s ef for t
“genre-fluid.” But
regardless of what
soundscape the pianist is dipping
his toes in, there’s an undeniable
“Magnús Jóhann” thread about it.
One that shows a deft understand-
ing of sound, transitions and how
you can meld them together into
endless forms.
“I feel like the album is kind of
two-sided,” he admits. “There’s a
jazzier, more instrumental side
with drums and saxophone and
then there’s this ambient, totally
electronic side. The most challeng-
ing thing about making it was how
do I combine all of these sounds to
tell a whole story?” He pauses. “I
had to create a sonic world to fit
them both.”
For Magnús, this collage of
sounds is the culmination of a
lifetime of musical consumption.
Raised in a family of classical pi-
anists, 70s rock devotees and hip-
hop heads, Magnús was exposed
to many sounds at a young age. As
a teenager, he dove headfirst into
jazz and piano, which he later stud-
ied at the university level.
Nowadays his work is even
broader. Next year, he plans on re-
leasing a film score, theatre score,
as well as a collaboration with Skú-
li Sverrisson. At the same time,
he’s producing works for Au!ur,
Hipsumhaps and even played on
the most recent Au!n release.
“It al l represents different
sides of me, but that’s what I rep-
resent—a lot of different things.
I don’t want to be limited to one
thing,” he concludes.
Introverted music
Releasing ‘Without Listening’ was
a three-year effort for the artist,
who began writing the album in
late 2017 and then spent the next
years recording and refining it.
And while, of course, the midst of
a global pandemic was perhaps not
the best time to release it, Magnús
sees a silver lining to the timing.
“It’s introverted music,” he ex-
plains. “The ide-
al listening sit-
uation is alone
at home, so it’s
good for your
self-isolation or
quarantine.” He
pauses. “So it
made sense for
me to release it
now. If not now,
then when?”
“It’s introverted
music. The ideal
listening situation
is alone at home,
so it’s good for
your self-isolation
or quarantine.”