Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2022, Blaðsíða 12

12 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2022
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Alexander Jean de Fontenay - Music expert, DJ and art student
Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen - Journalist and PhD in Socio-musicology
Hannah Jane Cohen - Former cultural editor at Reykjavík Grapevine
and performing artist
Nína Ricter - Cultural journalist at Fréttabla!i! and a musician
Valur Grettisson - Editor-in-chief at The Reykjavík Grapevine
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Listening to Sunna Fri!jóns’ new album, ‘Let the Light In’, is
to be transported to another world. The mystically flowing
songs evoke scenes that are easy to retreat into when you
feel the need to escape this pandemic-infused reality for a
moment. It’s no wonder that this year’s You Should Have
Heard This award goes to Sunna.
It’s rare to come across music that paints such vivid
pictures in your mind. When music is composed for movies,
the films are usually created first and the music is added
afterwards. Sunna’s albums do just the opposite: it’s like
you’re constructing a film in your mind around the music
you’re hearing.
“People tend to say that my music feels like it should be
a part of a movie,” Sunna laughs, adding that it’s actually a
dream of hers to compose a soundtrack for a film that she
connects to.
Sunna’s music could be categorised as Chamber Pop, as
she is using instruments typical to chamber music to form
modern melodies. Her background in classical music pushes
through in her compositions, but she’s freed herself of the
strict rules of the genre.
“I feel like I never belonged in that box. However much
I loved the music and playing in youth orchestras, I didn’t
fully fit in it. I needed to find something that would suit me
better,” Sunna explains.
Sunna’s music is based on how she perceives the world
and energies around her. “I try to translate my feelings into
music. Even when I’m not certain how I actually feel about
something, the outcome makes sense when it’s put into a
musical form,” she describes.
This translation process results in cinematic pieces
where every little detail matters, with each adding a little
something to the aural world being created. Filled with
particular sounds and moments, the songs truly are more
than the sum of their parts. “I’m very sensitive to sounds
and want to add texture to my music through them,” Sunna
says.
Sounds are not the only thing Sunna is sensitive to. She’s
very aware of the energies around her, which has led her to
become a healer as well. She has experimented with combin-
ing the two fields together, and in the future we will see
more of her signature group healing concerts. “I won’t stop
making music as is, but I do want to organise more of these
healing events,” she promises.
We’re happy to hear that Sunna will continue to make
more masterpieces. After all, she seems to have managed to
transfer her healing abilities to her music, too—whether it
was intentional or not. RH
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The song Vesturbæjar Beach by BSÍ is not only our Song Of
The Year. It is, in some ways, the most telling song about the
COVID year of 2021. It describes awful summers in Iceland,
as well as the will to do the best in whatever the situation is.
It was also a break-out track for a new band that has become
one of the most exciting in Iceland; an incredible fact, if
only for the reason that the two band members—Silla and
Julius—had no idea how to play instruments when they
started the band.
“It’s never really summer in Iceland,” Silla explains, and
adds that the song was a humorous attempt to create more
summer for her homeland. The video itself underlines this,
with hilarious settings where the bandmates try to sunbathe
on roundabouts in crappy weather.
Silla and Julius didn’t expect that the song would get the
attention it did in Iceland, and Silla actually first noticed it
when she was at a family reunion. “Then someone asked, so
you’re making music?” Silla says and laughs. “And I didn’t
really understand what was going on until some nieces and
nephews started talking about it.”
The band just released their album—'Stundum "ung-
lynd…En Alltaf Andfasísk' (“Sometimes Depressed... But
Always Antifascist”) and they are already preparing to
release more music. “We are working on something,” Silla
answers the journalist cautiously when asked if more is on
its way.
Whatever the plan is, the band is now on the map, and
nephews and nieces are paying attention, as well as the
nation.
Honourable mentions: Á hnjánum - Hipsumhaps, Skin
- Vök, Manstu - kef Lavík, russian.girls - Halda áfram,
SKRATTAR - Drullusama