Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2022, Síða 9

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To be fair, Árn! Margrét was a no-brainer for this category.
She has only released one single, yet she has captivated
Iceland’s folk scene with her soft voice and intimate lyrics.
She has already cut a deal with the legendary UK record
company One Little Independent, which was the first to
release Björk in the 90s.
At her core, Árn! Margrét is simply a young woman from
Ísafjör"ur, in the harsh Westfjords region, where the sun
doesn’t manage to crest the tall mountains in the winter,
and the threat of an avalanche is part of everyday life.
“I grew up in Ísafjör"ur. When I was six or seven, I learned
to play a classical piano, but never really connected with this.
But when I got my guitar, at 14 years old, I connected imme-
diately,” she says in a soft voice.
She learned the guitar and practiced writing songs until
she was confident enough to share her work. That’s when
she sent one of her songs to Högni Egilsson, frontman of the
legendary band Hjaltalín. He was so taken by the song that
he invited her to meet him.
“We met a lot when I visited the city, and we played
together,” she says. Their collaboration ended up as a song in
the documentary ‘#ri"ji Póllinn’, about Högni and his battle
with manic depressive disorder. It was clear that Árn!’s
musical career was taking off.
“I didn’t really think that I would become a musician,”
she says. “This happened so quickly. I was finishing school
last autumn but COVID-19 closed the world off. The winter
in Ísafjör"ur was hard and plain nasty and I was working in
my parents’ bakery. I just sent Högni the song, and then all of
sudden, he introduced me to Kiddi in Hjálmar.”
Kiddi is one of Iceland best known and respected music
producers and once a member of the Icelandic reggae band
Hjálmar, which was incredibly popular in the late noughties.
“I met with Kiddi and we just recorded ten demos. I forgot
my lyrics on the floor, and he called me later and asked if I
didn’t want them back. And, perhaps, to record more demos,
so we did ten more,” she explains.
The result is incredible, setting Árn! Margrét on the brink
of breaking out. She already has a management company
planning upcoming tours in Europe and the US, so it’s only
a matter of time before her voice is unleashed on the world.
Oh, and a new single will drop in January or early February.
We at The Reykjavík Grapevine can’t wait. VG
Honourable mentions: Brynja, Kvikindi, Vill, Inspector
Spacetime
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‘Mother Melancholia’ is a dark, deep exploration into the
feeling of the end of the world, imminent death and destruc-
tion, as well as the complexity of a feminist riot surging
within the heart of a woman. This is an unusually visual
album, almost like a film without the film. It also shows
incredible depth within sóley as a musician. In some ways,
she says that she has broken free from the box that she had
built around herself the last decade, intentionally or not.
“After I finished my record deal with my publisher, I felt
like I had a new sense of freedom. This is not to be under-
stood like I had any problems with my record company or
other albums, but in some senses, being without a record
company, freed me from the pressure of the music indus-
try,” she explains. “I was starting to find myself in a box that
wasn’t right for me. Perhaps it’s this feeling that you have
to please the invisible listener, the one you think is there,
sitting on the other side of the screen, listening and judging
what is right and wrong in art. But then I reminded myself
to never underestimate the listener. It’s really interesting
how the music industry can be helpful in some ways, but
also destructive in others,” she explains.
The result of her newfound freedom is ‘Mother Melan-
cholia’, an album that is dark, haunting, slow and, most of
all, without compromise. Asked about this, sóley laughs:
“Well, I wasn’t trying to make a difficult album to listen to.”
And she is absolutely right, because there is a beautiful ethe-
real atmosphere above all the dark tones, like a colourful sky
in the winter darkness.
“I’m scared shitless when it comes to death,” she says,
“and that’s the spark for this album. The album is also
born from my obsessive interest in movies. The title itself
is a homage to the two movies, ‘Mother!’ and ‘Melancholia’.
That’s when I found some connection in the album and the
feeling that I had within myself.”
She says that the movies inspired her to ponder the
complexity of Earth, God, the end of the world. And being a
woman. “I found some feminist riot within myself, a strong
feeling I want to work more with,” she explains.
sóley self-published the album, a process she says was a
tough learning experience, but one that saw her grow as a
person and an artist. Asked if she was afraid that her new
approach and the resulting darkness would alienate listen-
ers, her answer is simply no.
“As long as you are proud of what you do, it doesn’t really
matter,” she says. VG