Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 18

16 ICELAND REVIEW
1. RetRo StefSon haS a paRty vibe to itS muSic,
while youR Solo pRoject, uni StefSon, iS moRe
mellow. iS thiS a Reflection of you gRowing up?
We actually started out more as an indie
band but got more upbeat as we progressed,
as we grew older and as my brother [logi
pedro] and I started going to clubs, but
the songs I have on my solo project are
the songs I didn’t find a path for in Retro
Stefson.
For my solo project I try to work with
producers that I haven’t worked with
before. For example, Oculus: I asked him
to make a soundscape for me. He has this
great, what I call ‘glacial soundscape,’ but
it’s a bit of a joke when we say that.
2. So iS it Really tRue that all icelandic muSi-
cianS aRe influenced by natuRe...?
yeah, definitely… and I wanted to take
part in that [says half-jokingly]. It’s funny
when we go abroad as a band—Retro
Stefson has been together for nine years
now—people still say ‘yeah, let’s go and see
this Icelandic band,’ and they are perhaps
expecting something totally different. Then
they get this group of school kids playing
world music with techno influences but I
think that is part of what has kept Retro
Stefson around. people don’t really know
what category to put us in.
3. the lyRicS of youR fiRSt Single, ‘enginn gRæ-
tuR’ (‘nobody cRieS’), aRe taken fRom a 19th
centuRy poem, ‘StökuR’ (‘QuatRainS’), by jónaS
hallgRímSSon. what iS the Song about and why
did you chooSe thiS poem in paRticulaR?
It’s a melancholic poem. Not too long after
he writes this he passes away in Denmark.
He’s remembering Iceland and this one
love. He is clearly talking about a lady—
two ladies, actually. We used to sing this
poem in the choir [at college].
I was quite frustrated [when I was] in
Berlin [earlier this year] trying to write lyr-
ics. I had a kind of writer’s block so I just
took the guitar and started singing and this
was just the first thing that came.
4. you’ve uSually Sung in engliSh in the paSt.
why icelandic thiS time?
The first song was just accidental, because
of this poem and I even checked out the
English translation of it, but it didn’t seem
as right. It’s so easy to be a young guy in a
pop band and write some mediocre lyrics
in English. When I did the first single, I
thought ‘ok, maybe I should have the rest
in Icelandic as well.’ We have great lyricists
in Iceland now so I thought ‘damn, I should
give it a go too.’
5. you’ve Said in pReviouS inteRviewS that you
weRe alSo a little afRaid about Singing in
icelandic becauSe you weRe conceRned about
the RiSe of nationaliStic political paRtieS.
could you explain?
It’s a kind of identity crisis. poems from
these times [the 19th century] were roman-
tic and nationalistic. Who do I identify
myself as? a black man or a white man?
Can Icelanders be black? Can I be sing-
ing these poems? and the answer is yes.
Of course I can. In a way it’s my own little
method of protest.
6. would you Say diScRimination iS a pRoblem in
iceland?
I think it’s the most open country I’ve been
to [unnsteinn was born in portugal to an
angolan mother and Icelandic father and
has also lived in Germany]. My mother
came here in 1995. She’s so black that small
kids thought she was blue but she adapted
very well, although I guess it was difficult.
I was blind to seeing the racial tensions or
problems, though, because we only had
Icelandic friends, spoke the language 100
percent and grew up here, so it was always
very easy for me to say ‘no, no, there isn’t
anything here’ but then maybe there is.
NEW
BEGINNINGS
Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson of Retro Stefson recently released his debut solo Ep.
Zoë Robert asked the 24-year-old musician ten questions about this
new chapter in his career.
By Zoë robert. PHoTo By Páll StefánSSon.