Reykjavík Grapevine - apr. 2021, Blaðsíða 24

Track By Track: ‘Hvítir
Hrafnar’ by dady
You didn’t ask for depressive disco, but dady
knew you needed it
Words: dady & Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Berglaug Gar!arsdóttir
Track By Track
Check out ‘Hvítir Hrafnar’ by dady on
all streaming platforms.
dady—formerly Dadykewl—has
been on a three-year hiatus since his
last effort ‘Klámstjarna’. But thank-
fully, Iceland’s resident lovestruck,
sullen, smooth af singer has returned
with ‘Hvítir Hrafnar’, an album about
growing up, falling in love, getting
wise, and getting sad.
Hvítir Hrafnar
This song wasn’t intended for the
album, as nobody seemed to like it
except me, so I shamefully stored
it and admired it in solitude. But
during a session with the legendary
mixer Oddur Kristjánsson (Sgan-
dall), I sneaked it in. He immedi-
ately saw the ugly beauty of it and
gave me a lecture that I should al-
ways follow my heart, pay taxes and
never listen to songs in mp3.
Hleyp
I’m in my 20s and slowly growing
into legit adulthood—business
meetings, buying milk, saying
things like “best regards”, drink-
ing responsibly. “Hleyp” is about
me being scared shitless of the
beast of capitalism, and how it will
chew me to pieces until my core
ambitions are to get a promotion,
while the creative and optimistic
side of me gets tortured in a vault
hidden under the thought of buy-
ing stocks in Icelandair. Oh and
Sdóri fucking kills it!
#rá!laus
“"rá!laus” is about self-hatred and
how it can become something you
unintentionally surround yourself
with. By writing the song I came
to a self-realisation that I had to
constructively work on self love.
Something that everybody should
do. As RuPaul said: “If you don’t
love yourself, how the hell are you
going to love somebody else?
Brotna
Did you seriously think I was not
going to blow off some distorted
steam on this album? Well most of
you probably didn’t even consider
it, but if you did, oh boy, you were
wrong. Play this song very loud
and scream at your steering wheel
in the early morning traffic jams
while you listen to this one.
Í frjálsu falli
People told me this song could be
longer, but why say just something
when you’ve said it all? That’s when
you leave it to the talented KARÍ-
TAS. If you’re not touched by the
end of this song, go see a doctor.
Kasta!ir Mér Út
And we continue in... *drumroll*
...constant agony and depression!
If there’s one thing to take from
this, it’s that you should align your
values and happiness to the per-
son you’re becoming. Change is
inevitable, and so is the fact that
our new constitution is being held
back by people with all of our na-
tions’ money and there is little we
can do about it.
Ódau!leg
I’m not going to talk a lot about
this song because it’s hard. All I
can say for this one is that there
is a choir solo at the end of it, so
check it out.
Alcatraz
Have you ever had a crush? Well I
have, and it was embarrassing and
awkward. In the end, my love isn’t
beautiful, it's messy with badly
constructed sentences (unless I
have time to put it into a song).
Ég Dey
Mastering engineer Gar!ar S.
Jónsson (Almyrkvi) created a
spot-on genre for this song called
“"unglyndis Diskó” (“Depressive
Disco”). It’s an upbeat track about
the heart-tearing vision of seeing
your loved one cry because you’re
an asshole.
Groundhog Day
We may seem happy in Iceland and
the country is beautiful, but you
try living with the lights off 70%
of the year in a cold, windy, dark
room that only has Hagkaup as
the main excursion. So on a loving
note, I want to say to my homies
out there feeling like life can be a
bit overwhelming and tough: You
can always reach out to me for a
chat. I’ve been there. However, I
am not a professional and I know
a lot of people find Píeta Samtökin
really helpful to chat with. You can
also check out 39.is for more infor-
mation.
Syndir Vel
No sub-bass. No bullshit.
Anyway, I do hope you enjoy the
album, although that is not a re-
quirement. Art should always be
made for yourself to like with the
intention to inspire people that
are better at it than you, so they
can make even better art.
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24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04— 2021
You should see him not in a crown
Music
“Change is inevi-
table, and so is the
fact that our new
constitution is be-
ing held back by
people with all of
our nations’ money
and there is little
we can do about
it.””