Atlantica - 01.06.2011, Qupperneq 43

A t L A n t i c A 41
gusgus a
behind the counter of the local organic store. “I
wanted to do something different, like work on my
solo project, but in reality I really didn’t know what
I wanted—so I just walked around in circles for a
couple of years and then came back home.”
Biggi veira of GusGus worked with Hákonar–
dóttir on her upcoming solo album, which she
defines as “electronic pop; girly and sing-along
but with dark undertones. Or that is how I see it
now anyway, but you never know how it will end
up.” She describes Biggi veira as a “mathematical
genius and synth genius. With all the plug-ins and
chords, never in a lifetime could I understand half
of what goes on in his studio.” Hákonardóttir in turn
helped out with choruses for Arabian Horse.
“Then, they were going to do some live shows, and
asked ‘Aren’t you going to come along?’” And just
like that, she was back.
The band members are best friends both on
stage and off. “We’re like a family, in a way. They
are very nice guys to hang out with; we are all very
similar people. We are on the same wavelength.”
Urdur Hákonardóttir is currently working on her solo
album.
“Great at making melodies. Very strange melo-
dies.” -Högni Egilsson
“One of the most soulful singers around. She
sings her heart out every time. She is magical.”
–Daníel Ágúst
The Young Blood
HögNI EgILSSON
“I never planned to be a musician,” says Högni
Egilsson, one of the biggest talents to emerge
from the Icelandic music scene in recent years.
Wearing a woolen sweater, with a blonde beard,
and with wild yellow hair tied carelessly in a bun
above his head, Egilsson is the handsome embodi-
ment of the modern-day Icelandic viking. His ener-
gy is contagious and his charisma captivating, not
least to the legion of female admirers that has
already sprung up in his wake. Egilsson shrugs his
shoulders, almost puzzled. “I don’t know… I don’t
really think about it. It is nice, but at the end of the
day it doesn’t pay the rent… or maybe it does?”
Egilsson became involved in music through the
violin, which he played from the age of five until
the age of fifteen. “But I wasn’t that much into
music, it never really interested me”. That was until
a school friend, singer-songwriter Snorri Helgason,
started to feed him with albums. Aged seventeen,
Egilsson bought himself a guitar. And when his
art school teacher noticed that he was more inter-
ested in music than art, he switched over to study
composition at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Egilsson has since made his way to the frontline
of Icelandic music. Known primarily for fronting
indie act Hjaltalín, he has also made music for
theaters, performed solo at the 2011 Reykjavik
Arts Festival, produced arrangements for indie stal-
warts múm, and he has a solo project in the works,
too. At only twenty-five, Egilsson’s talent and vision
belie his age. What drives him? “I am so fascinated
with music; creating something from nothing. And
I like the human aspect of it. The idea of people
coming together, sharing their personal endeavors
and making connections. There’s strong human
warmth in it. That is why I like to make music with
lots of different people; it is fun to connect with
people through something like that.”
With a tiny but energetic music scene, Iceland
is the perfect environment for an outgoing art-
ist. “I was just walking down Skólavördustígur
Street and came across Stephan Stephensen on
his way to lunch with David Thór Jónsson [multi-
instrumentalist who worked on arrangements for
Arabian Horse], and I said, ‘I’ll join you guys.’ From
that, the whole thing started for me.” Egilsson sings
three songs on the album (for which he contrib-
uted melodies and lyrics) including ‘Within You’,
the unofficial Icelandic summer hit of 2011.
The leap from a concert hall to a club floor is
long, but it is one that Egilsson makes comfortably:
“It is purely electric, which is of course a major dif-
ference from Hjaltalín, where the approach was
always organic and acoustic. Also, the music works
on different parameters. The state of mind is more
in the foreground, the state of the audience, the
mass of music—it is very different, but very inter-
esting music,” he explains, offering nothing but the
highest praise for his collaborators. “Biggi veira is
the craziest technology genius. He’s got millions
of cables and he puts all of it into this one flight
case. It is the most compact flight case I have ever
seen,” he says. As for President Bongo, “he has a
very good ear for what elements matter—good at
pressing the mute button. That is really his instru-
ment, the mute button.”
And with GusGus he feels right at home, “I’ve
only made music for 6 years or so. I don’t really
have roots that I have to connect to, I feel like it
is very easy for me to jump aboard with GusGus,
because I don’t feel that I am going against some-
thing I stand for. I guess what I stand for is just
versatility.”
Högni Egilsson is currently working on a solo project. His
band Hjaltalín will start working on a new album later this
summer.
“The handsome boy star, the young blood… He is
a musical genius; he amazes me. You can put him in
front of a mike with a track and he will make up the
most beautiful melodies.” -Urdur Hákonardóttir
“A well-educated musician and very keen on try-
ing different styles and making interesting stuff for
our ears. He has this broad voice and very good
control as a musician.” -Daníel Ágúst a
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