• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

SPECIAL ISSUE 2017: NORÐUR OG NIÐUR SIGUR RÓS ARE SEEING OUT 2017 IN STYLE. THEIR NORÐUR OG NIÐUR FESTIVAL PROMISES TO FILL THE HAZY VOID BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR WITH MUSIC, ART, LIGHT AND COLOUR. INSIDE: WE TALK TO THE BAND ABOUT CREATING THE FESTIVAL; THE ARTISTS NOT TO MISS; THE FULL SCHEDULE; AND LOTS MORE. SCHEDULE, INFORMATION, GUIDES AND INTERVIEWS “It’s tempting when you’re scor- ing a movie like this, which is quite South And Up? abstract and doesn’t really have a clear story, to just improvise, go Don’t get lost in the Norður og Niður schedule with the flow and interact with it live,” says band member Sólrún Words: John Rogers & Jessica Peng Sumarliðadóttir. “But we decided we wanted to sort of work the film With 46 fascinating artists al- and make it easier for us and for the ready announced for the inaugu- audience to stay focused, because ral Norður og Niður music festival, the tempo of the film is quite differ- and more to come, we thought ent from the tempo we’re used to we’d offer you a few choice today. Some scenes are excruciat- picks from the lineup. Here are ingly long and sort of about noth- a handful of artists you should ing, while others that have a lot go- firmly ring on the schedule. ing on and are over in a moment.” JFDR Jófríður Ákadóttir has grown Framing Fantômas from her folk roots to being one of the most well-known faces of Amiina was originally asked to the Icelandic music scene. Her score the second of five movies in first solo album, ‘Brazil,’ felt like the ‘Fantômas’ series, on the 100th a creative breakthrough, and it’s anniversary of the films, when full of surprises live, when Jó- French film company Gaumont fríður brings together an ever- restored the old 1913 film to a 4k evolving ensemble of talented resolution. The project, which was musicians to create fresh new sponsored by various European Gyða Valtýsdóttir takes on her songs. cultural institutions, was curated One of the founding members by Yann Tiersen, best known for his of the much-admired collective amiina ‘Amélie’ soundtrack. Múm, Gyða’s solo work has blos- Scoring a movie is an art in itself. somed in recent years. Whether One needs to be able to capture reinterpreting works from the the weight of every single moment classical canon on her ‘Epicycle’ and put it into a melodic perspec- LP, playing dusty desert ballads A Different tive. And if the creative process in- on solo guitar, or performing the volved in making an album weren’t world’s most soft and sensual Blanck Mass already difficult enough, the fact rap track, Gyða’s performances Starting out as one half of noise Tempo that there are points to connect are mesmerising and hypnotic duo Fuck Buttons, Benjamin amiina on scoring silent movies and feeling free and structures that needsto be without fail. John Power’s solo incarnation adhered to makes scoring a movie Blanck Mass was great from the a different endeavour altogether. beginning. His first album was a Words: Alice Demurtas Photos: Courtesy of amiina Far from being claustrophobic, lush and gorgeous soundscape however, the architecture of the of organic ambient material, movie ended up being almost lib- while his more recent work has Nothing says Sigur rós like a winter Their impossible-to-categorise, erating. a harsher edge, veering into the music festival that also includes man-on-wood orchestral perfor- “In a way it’s nice to have a territory of experimental tech- lectures, dance performances mance at Airwaves oscillated be- frame to work into—it releases the no. Either way, it’s gripping stuff. and movie screenings. But hey, if tween theatre, cinema and music pressure of inventing the frame there is someone who can pull off like an unstoppable pendulum. yourself,” Sólrún explains. “It’s also squeezing a lecture on extrater- The group was providing the quite clearly defined in sections, restrial life between a twirl of ba- soundtrack to a screening of the so it was tempting to define the Dan Deacon ton and a harpist’s performance, 100-year-old silent film ‘Fantômas.’ characters and sections and really The enchanting, incandes- that’s indeed Sigur rós. The movie was in turn funny and work on the details.” cent, prismatic electronica of ridiculously dramatic, but it was The process was quick but in- Dan Deacon has to be seen to Like an oscillating through amiina’s live soundtrack tense, and after a three-week-long be believed. Part of the same pendulum that it acquired a soul. Every low tour de force, amiina was done. Baltimore-based ‘Wham City’ Sóley, Sin Fang & Örvar Smárason and high point of the movie— It’s hard to do the results justice art and music collective that This power trio started off in Among the impressive list of art- the accidents, the gunshots, the in words. Between the thrill and birthed Future Islands, Dan Dea- 2017 with a pledge to make one ists who hopped on board with smooches and the over-acted excitement of the movie and the con has been travelling the song together each month. The the Norður og Niður festival is the fights—was highlighted and em- jaw-dropping talents of the band, world for years, guiding ever- results have been fascinating prodigious ensemble amiina, who phasised in an exciting perfor- amiina’s performances are well- growing audiences to euphoric to hear, with a different artist worked with Sigur rós in the late mance by the ensemble that was rounded experiences that need to heights with his joyful, pulsat- taking the lead at various times. ‘90s and for the following decade. literally one of a kind. be felt first hand. ing live show. Don’t miss it. From lovelorn ballads to upbeat Árni Hjrvar Árnason Tropicana. It’s breezy and whimsi- cal, but with a slight twist of sad- ness. It’s like sipping a Mojito on Depresso a Californian beach with a broken heart. ‘Bore You With My Melody’ Tropicana is such a song. Árni Árnason’s dinky, wonky Back to the roots alt-pop is all sun and sadness The Akureyri-born musician went Words: Jessica Peng Photos: Karan Kandhari to school in Reykjavik, and moved to London ten years ago. “I love London,” Árni says. “It’s the city It was one of those rainy days in Depresso Tropicana where you can find anything you London when Árni met up with want, as long as you know what his bandmates from The Vaccines After many rounds of songwriting you’re looking for.” in their recording studio. After games over the years, Árni started This Christmas he will bring a short exchange of small talk to notice something interesting. his whimsical tunes back to the and jokes, everyone sat down and “In all of the things that I was writ- Norður og Niður Festival in Reyk- started their intense songwriting ing, there was this thread that I javik. He will play on December game. The goal of the game is to wasn’t expecting to come out of 27th, and you will get to hear the write as many songs as possible in me,” he says. “It’s quite whimsi- magic of his “shitty synthesizers.” a fixed short period of time. cal—a slightly light Hawaiian type As Árni started to churn out of thing.” Looking ahead songs, he quickly realized that he Árni took the materials back to did not have a lot of time to make his studio in East London, where “I didn’t set out to make an album,” decisions. B minor or G major he records everything. You prob- Árni muses. “I didn’t even set out chord? He had to think fast, or ably think that the bass player of to do anything else, other than just rather, not think at all. “Writing The Vaccines must have all kinds to play a couple of gigs for fun.” from your head means that you of fancy, expensive instruments But life works out in mysterious kind of end up writing songs that in his studio. Well, you’re wrong: ways. Since then he has been writ- you think you want to write,” Árni “The studio is just full of crap, lots ing more and playing more shows. explains. “But if you take that off of knock-off old ‘80s synthesizers, After the Norður og Niður Festi- for a second and just force yourself beaten-up organs,” Árni laughs. val, he will be back in his studio in to not think about what you’re do- “Via that you get this dinky, wonky London, where he may continue to ing, in the end it’s way more inter- sound that I just love.” create his brand of Depresso Trop- esting and bizarre.” That was the birth of Árni’s very icana. “You never know,” he finish- own brand of music—Depresso es. “I might just get an album out.” alt-pop, this is one of the first chances the world will have to see them perform this intrigu- North And Down ing project live. Sigur rós brighten up the winter with their Norður og Niður festival Words: John Rogers Photos: Timothée Lambrecq It was over ten years ago, in 2006, Harpa. It’s smallish, but it’s still a when Sigur rós last had a grand beautiful room. We knew that we homecoming. The band had re- would play multiple nights. And it Mary Lattimore leased a trilogy of albums—Ágætis wound itself up and became more The Norður og Niður lineup is byrjun,’ ‘(),’ and ‘Takk’—that took than just three or four Sigur rós an exciting mixtape for Sigur the world by storm.

Load more

  8

Copy Link