Reykjavík Grapevine - Nov 2021, Page 18

Wist From The
Westfjords
Árn' Mar"rét brin"s her "entle folk music
centre-sta"e
Words: John Pearson Photos: John Pearson
Árn# Margrét creates sublime,
wistful songs that draw on themes
of love and longing in the best tra-
dition of heartfelt roots music. She
has just returned to Reykjavík af-
ter studying abroad, and confides
that she’s already missing what she
describes as her “folk high school”
in northern Denmark. Is that like
‘School Of Rock’, but with Bon Iver
in lieu of Jack Black?
“It 's prett y f un,” says the
20-year-old from Ísafjör!ur. “It's
just creative. You can pick your
subjects and there's no test. I was
doing songwriting and music and
production. So basically mak-
ing songs, and having fun with
friends.”
Sounds like our kind of college.
Árn# Margrét had been studying
the craft of folk there since early
August, “but I'm cutting it short,”
she announces. “Because of all
this.”
A building buzz
“All this” is the bustle of activity
around the talented musician as
her career starts to take off. It’s the
sessions at legendary recording
studio Hló!riti in Hafnarfjör!ur,
overseen by renowned musician
Gu!mundur Kristinn Jónsson,
(a.k.a. Kiddi). It‘s the “music busi-
ness people luncheons and what-
ever“ that she mentions—evidence
that Árn# Margrét’s talent has
been noticed beyond the borders
of Iceland. And it’s the upcoming
string of five gigs in four days,
culminating in her playing at Live
From Reykjavík—her highest pro-
file show yet.
“It's a bit scary,” she says of
that concert, “because I think no-
body really knows who I am. So
I'm excited, but I'm still a tiny bit
stressed because it's like the first
big thing to happen.”
Honing the craft
Árn# Margrét’s backstory is rooted
in the Westfjords, where she grew
up. “My mom always wanted to go
to music school, but she never had
the chance,” she says. “So I think
she really wanted me and my sib-
lings to be able to go.”
The music school that mom had
in mind was not the kind that you’d
associate with either Jack Black or
Bon Iver. Nevertheless Árn# Mar-
grét dutifully attended, tolerating
formal piano lessons until the age
of 14 when she got her hands on a
guitar, discovered The Paper Kites
and started to teach herself the
folksy craft of finger picking.
Eventually ditching that music
school for a regular high school,
she continued developing her gui-
tar skills until the songs started
to emerge. “When I was 15 or 16 I
tried to make a song,” she recalls.
“At first, I was really bad at it. But
then, one night, I just made two
songs in maybe an hour. It was
really fast and really weird, but it
worked out well. And then I just
started doing it more and more.”
Árn# Margrét started quietly
posting her creations on YouTube.
She told nobody, and was mortified
when a family member stumbled
across them. But then her secret
was out. People started to notice
this shy young talent with the pure
tremulous voice, gentle, accurate
guitar style and an ear for a beau-
tiful melody. And that attention
eventually led to her current album
recording project.
The folk keeps on
coming
She remembers the first session: “I
went to Kiddi’s studio and I didn't
know him then. And the thing was,
I forgot all my lyrics and I had to
come again!” But he was impressed
with the demos that they eventu-
ally recorded together, and they
could both see that a worthwhile
body of work would emerge from
a longer collaboration. “Kiddi was
like ‘if you wanna do it, just say go’,
and I was like ‘yeah, sure!’”
They’ve now recorded more
than enough for an album—which
will probably come out early next
year—but Árn# Margrét keeps on
writing. And thanks to Kiddi’s
contacts, there have been plenty
of musicians visiting the studio
to help expand on her sound. “It's
hard at first because you make it
on guitar, and then you have to get
used to all those instruments,” she
says. “But then you're like, ‘wow,
this is a great song with all those
instruments!’”
And she is now starting to feel
comfortable providing direction as
she crafts her songs with her col-
laborators. “If people want to add
something to the song then we try
it,” she says. ”If I like it, then we use
it. But it's my song, so I can choose
what I want.”
Árn# Margrét is graduating from
the high school of folk into the real
world of folk, armed with a solid
musical talent and a folder burst-
ing with freshly-minted songs, (as-
suming she hasn’t left it at home).
Info: Catch Árn! Margrét playing
Live From Reykjavík on November
6th, at Fríkirkjan or streamed via
dice.fm.
You can also watch demos of some
of her songs, filmed at Hló"riti Stu-
dio, by going to the YouTube channel
named 'Arny Margret'.
18The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11— 2021
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