Edward Hancox's Blog, page 9

10 ‘hacks’ for first time visitors to Reykjavík

1. Water. It’s the best in the world. It comes out of the tap for free. Don’t buy it in bottles! Hafdís Huld once gave me a huge telling off for buying water in Iceland. She was absolutely right.

2. Places to hide. Reykjavik City Hall (Ráðhús Reykjavíkur) is a great place to hide from the Icelandic weather. You can watch the bird life on Tjörnin, drink coffee or ogle the huge 3d map of Iceland.

Otherwise, Harpa has great coffee, interesting architecture and free tours. Both are warm and dry!

3. Buses in the city are great, but you need the exact change, and they don’t accept cards. On the plus side, they have free wifi on board, and even at some bus stops. Oh, and the website/app is amazing – you can even see a live map of where the buses are – www.straeto.is

4. Alcohol still isn’t cheap; stock up at the duty free store at the airport at Keflavík when you land. Just follow the herd of Icelanders piling shopping trollies full of booze. You’ll thank me for it later.

5. Geothermal hotpots are magical. Not only can they cure hangovers, but they are a mainstay of Icelandic culture. Icelanders chat in them, make business deals in them, watch the Northern lights from them, and just lounge around in them any chance they get. The ones at Nauthólsvík (at the geothermal beach) are free.

6. The souvenir shops in downtown Reykjavík can be tacky and expensive. Wait until the weekend and visit Kolaportið – the indoor market place by the harbour – you can buy everything from hand knitted lopapeysa to salty liquorice and er, guillemots eggs. Even if you don’t find a souvenir, you won’t quite believe your eyes.

7. Berries. You don’t have to go far out of the city to find them in the summer, and they are delicious. Look out for people wandering around with empty ice cream tubs and blue fingers. Go for the Crowberries or the Bilberries (they look just like, and are often called blueberries, but they are not!). Don’t eat the poisonous ones.

8. Pylsur – the original Icelandic hotdog. Good enough for both Bill Clinton and Ainsley Harriott, the one to head for is Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur which translates as ‘best hotdogs in town’. They are cheap, delicious and great for mopping up all the beer in your system after a night out. Also, the queue is often entertainment in itself, especially late at night, when it’s full of banter, flirting and debauchery.

9. Go on a walking tour. Reykjavik isn’t that big, and is a great place for a walk, but a tour will allow you to get your bearings and show you things that you might not normally see. Local girl Auður from I Heart Reykjavík has just started doing tours, after dispensing Reykjavik advice from her blog for a good long while.

10. It’s not all about the hustle and bustle. Elliðaárdalur valley is within the city limits, and yet is a little slice of natural Iceland. It has a salmon river, waterfalls, wildlife and is an ideal place to relax & unwind, or Seltjarnarnes has a lighthouse, views to Snæfellsjökull and attacking arctic terns.

Þjóðhátíðardagurinn competition!

Ok, it’s National Day in Iceland today. Iceland is celebrating 70 years of independence. Congratulations!

To celebrate, I thought I’d put together a little competition – heaven help me, this is probably never going to work! – please take a selfie of you reading Iceland, Defrosted and post it to Twitter using hashtag #icelanddefrosted, or on Facebook on the Iceland, Defrosted page.

I’ll select the best one and send you a signed copy of the Icelandic version of Iceland, Defrosted when it’s released in the Autumn.

I’ll only accept photos submitted on June 17th!

Good luck!

Emotional, vulnerable and honest: FURA

Fura is a collaboration between the songstress Björt Sigfinnsdóttir and the producer duo Hallur Jónsson and Janus Rasmussen, behind Bloodgroup. From humble beginnings as record store workers – which I can relate to – they now produce late night electronica and stunning vocals from the Eastern reaches of Seyðisfjörður. Björt tells us more:

Who or what is FURA?

Fura is a fusion between the songstress and composer, myself, Björt Sigfinndóttir and the producer duo Janus Rasmussen and Hallur Jónsson. We have known each other for many years as both me and Hallur come from the east and worked together in Skífan record store at Laugavegur in the good old days. Janus first came to Iceland through the LungA festival, which I am the co-founder and manager for. The guys formed the electro band Bloodgroup, which I admire a lot and then in late 2012 our paths crossed and we started making music together.

Where does the name ‘FURA’ come from?

Well, there are two sides to the answer of that question. Firstly where the idea of the name comes from: I was living abroad and my friends kept on telling me that I needed a new artist name as my name is to similar to Björk and it would be confusing for foreigners. I could see their point, even though I like my name a lot, so collectively we started brainstorming on names. Then one day, my Swedish friend Max came to me and said that his father had suggested the name FURA and then it was settled. Short, precise and sounds beautiful both when pronounced in Icelandic and when foreigners try to pronounce it, I think.

The meaning of the name however: In Icelandic it means a pine tree, but I connect way more to the Colombian story of the world’s greatest emerald that was created from the tragic love story of Fura and Tena, sort of the Romeo and Juliet of Colombia.

How would you describe your music?

Emotional, vulnerable and honest. Full of contrasts, dominating bass lines and heavy beats against a soft clear voice. It is a mix of many genres built on an electronic foundation.

You are from Seyðisfjörður on the East Coast of Iceland, right? Does that have any influence on your music?

I am, yes, and Hallur from Egilsstaðir and Janus from the Faroe Islands. I can of course only speak for myself and for me it’s a definite yes. Seyðisfjörður, its surroundings, its culture and inhabitants influences everything I do. My love for that place is enormous and pretty much all my projects, both professional and amateur, have something to do with this town (FURA, LungA, LungA School, Heima collective). It grounds me, gives me time and space to sort out my thoughts and feelings, it gives me extravagant nature and unpredictable weather, it gives me isolation and the feeling of home. It is my favorite place in the entire world.

What’s the best thing about Seyðisfjörður?

Practically I would say time, you get some extra hours in your day cause you don’t have to use any time on transport and such. Emotionally I will say the nature and what it has to offer, all year round! It is so magical.

I love ‘Demons’. What’s it about?

Well thank you, I’m very honored that you like it. We are all colored by our past. What we see, hear, taste, feel and experience throughout our life influences us in various ways. More often then not, I feel like life encourages people to build protective walls around them which then end up holding people back from really experiencing life, cause it does not only keep them from all the heart ache and stuff but it also keeps out all the deep emotional connections that we are not able to experience without taking the risk of getting hurt. So, Demons is a love song, where I sing to the one I love so dearly and ask him to break down these walls for me and save me from my self-created prison of fear.

I’d rather go up and down on the emotion scale, through the worst of heart aches and greatest of love, than never feel nothing at all…wow, is this a line for a new song?!

What future plans are there for FURA? An album, I hope…..

Yes, we are currently working on an album and aim to release at least an EP before Airwaves this year.

Originally published on Iceland Review online. Photographs courtesy of FURA.

Apology / Update

Hi. How are you?

So sorry I’ve not been around for a while, I’ve had to concentrate on something in real life which may have ultimately not been worth it anyway. We’ll have to wait and see.

But I just wanted to let you know that I’m back. I’m sorry to have left you. It won’t happen again.

There are some bits and pieces that I neglected to tell you about too. Like the Hafdís Huld in-store performance at Left For Dead, Birmingham last month. Hafdís was wonderful – as talented and quirky as ever. The new songs sounded fantastic, especially Lucky & Wolf.

Hafdís even took a copy of my book away too. I can’t wait to find out what she thinks of it!

In other news, the lovely folk at Nordic Coffee in Brighton, UK have agreed to stock Iceland, Defrosted. It seems sensible to adhere to this serving suggestion; Iceland, Defrosted, coffee and a Kleinur.

In terms of the future, I’ve decided that there will be a second book. I’m working on this, but Iceland, Defrosted took 6 years, so don’t expect anything soon. It will also be a little different – Iceland will feature though, don’t worry. I’m also heading to Keflavík in a few weeks time, for ATP Iceland, but I’ll hopefully be hatching plans with ÍRIS too. I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for sticking with me. I’ll make sure my posts are a little more frequent in the future.

Ed.

Orfia!

The last time I spoke with Soffía from Orfia, she described the Icelandic duo as “synthetic, dreamy sounds mixed with interesting instruments, with influences from the Celtic scene and a hint of Middle East tonality.” I thought she may have been joking with me, especially when she went on to say that the music was enjoyed with “a cold glass of milk.”

Orfia began three years ago as a project between composers Soffía Björg and Örn Eldjárn. The word Orfia comes from the ancient Greek, meaning ‘to have a beautiful voice,’ which seems entirely appropriate.

Orfia are back with a new crowdfunding project, and are hopeful to release their debut album. Oh, and things have changed. Soffía now recommends a good coffee with a dash of Baileys as an accompaniment.

How are things with Orfia?

Things are going really well. We have been in the studio recording and it sounds amazing. To compose for various musical groups and instruments like a string quintet, woodwind quartet, harp and finally hearing them come to life is always a magical moment instead of trying to imagine the actual sound. Orfia is also my graduation project from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts so there are really exciting times ahead!



I see that you are crowdfunding your debut album? How did this come about?

To make an album is not cheap and we are working with many musicians who are playing on the album. We have seen several albums successfully reach their funds through Karolina Fund and we decided to give it a go! It’s a brilliant concept. People can pre-order the album or pay for a private concert by supporting us through Karolina Fund.

What if you don’t raise the funds?

Then we are screwed. No, not screwed, but we are depending on raising the funds for the albums because it is quite hard to get funds in general.

Your artwork is a pretty fearsome looking wolf. What’s the inspiration behind that?

We wanted something strong on the cover and the wolf is a beautiful creature. It had to be in some kind of relation to sound and a wolf’s growl is quite nice, I think. I got the idea when I saw my schoolmate Sigga Soffía, who is also at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, drawing all these pictures of beautiful animals. She made the Wolf of Orfia for us and we loved it!

Last time I interviewed you, you said that Orfia is best enjoyed with a cold glass of milk. Do you still think this?!

No, I have changed my mind about that. Maybe a good cup of coffee with a dash of Baileys? We are growing up so fast!

What can we expect from the debut album?

Hipsters and grownups can all enjoy this album!

Originally published on Iceland Review online.

Music Review: Hafdís Huld – Home

Hafdís is back with the appropriately titled ‘Home’. Apparently written whilst dealing with a new found family life, complete with baby, dog and pink house, ‘Home’ is a fine piece of acoustic alternative folk/pop with a definite Icelandic edge.

Additional songwriters have done little to dim Hafdís’ glowing personality, instead they enhance it. The enchanting opener, ‘Sunrise’, written with Ed Harcourt is a wonderful showcase for her unique voice.

‘Queen Bee’ is typically jubilant Hafdis, and ‘Lucky’ is a cheeky fable about a local gambler. It’s a slice of lovely folkiness, and especially when the piano chimes in. In a similar vein, ‘Treasures’ is a summery love song, and ‘Little Light’ is deliciously bright and breezy, reminding me of The Beautiful South. In a good way.

Things are changing though. Not for the worse. The Icelandic pop princess might just be turning her back on the pop of her previous album, Synchronised Swimmers. Even ‘Pop Song’ is tongue-in-cheek, including the chorus of ‘I can put it in a pop song if you like / but what I feel about you doesn’t rhyme’. ‘Wolf’ seems to be a dark, cautionary fairy tale, whilst ‘Empty Eyes’ is dark and foreboding. I always like it when Hafdís turns a little pessimistic, and ‘Empty Eyes’ might be the standout track of the album for me.

Hafdís finishes proceedings alone, save for her trusty ukulele. ‘I Miss The Rain’ is a pean to Iceland’s less than wonderful weather. I can imagine Hafdís singing it whilst looking out of a rain streaked window in her pink house in the Icelandic countryside. Maybe that’s the point.

Iceland, Defrosted to be published in Icelandic

I’m thrilled to announce that I have just signed a contract for Iceland, Defrosted to be published in Iceland by Óðinsauga útgáfa (Odinseye Publishing), in Icelandic.

There are a few issues to iron out around updating, translation and other administrative bits and bobs, but I’m really excited about this development, and can’t wait to see the finished article.

A huge thanks to Huginn Thor, the driving force behind Óðinsauga útgáfa for even considering such a crazy venture. We aim to be hitting the shelves in time for this years jólabókaflóð.

New Hafdís Huld album.

The new Hafdís Huld album is now streaming on Soundcloud. It’s called ‘Home’, and it’s a beaut. Full review to follow, of course.

Also, a gentle reminder about this. I’m getting excited now!

Kimono

Kimono are the one Icelandic band that I never quite get around to seeing. They always seem to either be on an extended break, immersed in some kind of side project, or working behind closed doors on new material. Despite frequent trips to Iceland, and being a fan since 2009’s Easy Music For Difficult People, I just keep missing them.

Defining Kimono’s music can be just as difficult to pin down. Occasionally it is guitar driven indie rock, but under the surface, another more complex band is waiting. One which is equally capable of atmospheric soundscapes as it is – as they say – ‘textured bummer rock’. Alison from the band tells us more.

Can you introduce us to the members of Kimono?

Kimono is Gylfi (bass and baritone guitar) and Kjartan (drums) and I (singing & guitar). We have been playing together for 13 years and we’ve recorded three LPs and several other things. We are the band that your cool cousin listens to (or you, if you are that cool cousin). Isn’t it okay to say things like that as long as they’re true?



How would you describe your music?

Agitated Icelandic outsider rock poetry (according to our Facebook page…) The format of kimono’s music is very much rock – drums, bass, guitar and singing. We all listen to a lot of different types of music and we are all huge music fans, so I think that comes through in our music. We are very adverse to regurgitating what is already being done by other people, so I guess most people would say we sound unique, to use a sadly overused word. But the music is unique to us, because we all contribute equally to the music and the combination makes something else entirely. We also enjoy taking ideas from other styles of music, like (for example) early electro-acoustic music, and applying it to rock. We make music that searches and explores new territory in spite of the old idiom (rock).

You have been around for a while now, in one form or another, do you still enjoy playing together?

If we didn’t, we would probably have to be the most passive aggressive group of people on the planet. We practice 2-3 times and week and when we have dinner parties or vacations in the countryside, the other members of the band and their partners are almost always there as well, so we’re more like family (or a cult) than a band at this point. For my part, I can’t imagine not being in kimono. It’s like Kjartan said when we started working on material for the new record; he’s always impressed when we write more songs, because we’re not really sure where it comes from. That’s an extremely valuable relationship to have with a group of people. It’s both a difficult and beautiful thing, really.

I love the idea of crowd-funding your albums being released on vinyl. How did this come about?

We have always wanted to release the records on vinyl, but none of the labels we’ve been on ever managed to deliver on it. We’re sort of a dark horse when it comes to labels, because it’s never obvious that our records will sell (even though they always have sold well). I think a lot of the time people rely on the fact that a band’s album sounds like something else that’s popular before making an investment like that. That said, we have a very dedicated group of supporters who have followed what we’ve done for years. So it made sense to ask them if they wanted the records. So far, so good. We’re halfway through and we’ve raised half the money already, so it’s looking good.

We have just celebrated Record Store Day. Why do you think vinyl has become popular again?

My first vinyl records used to be my father’s. So, for me at least, there is a strong feeling of value and tradition (some would say, nostalgia) that goes with it. The experience of listening to vinyl is also immersive. You have to interact with a record player and your albums more than you do with an iPod or CDs. The new formats are very disposable. For going to the gym or making mixes to listen to at a party, streaming music wins hands down, of course, although I have doubts about it ever being profitable for musicians. For an individual band’s records that you want to listen to as a whole, though, vinyl is better. The immersion helps the listener to concentrate, maybe. The cynical side of me wants to add that it’s also sort of like having books on your shelf that you haven’t read. Kind of like that Woody Allen movie from the seventies where he runs around leaving half opened books on chairs to impress his date with how intellectual he is.

I love your new single – ‘Specters’. Is their a new album in the pipeline?

There is. And thank you. We’ve been working on our new LP for the last six months, writing and recording new songs. It takes us a while because every single riff has to be stress tested like one of those glassed-in armchairs at IKEA that a robot ‘sits’ on 12,000 times a day. We play each section over and over and over until we’re absolutely sure that it will be great. Plus we record everything we do, so there’s a 199-disc box set also in the pipeline for when we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel some fine day in the future. All kidding aside, though, it will be ready before Airwaves this year. We’re toying with the idea of making it vinyl-only.

I’m told that a kimono live show is something to behold. Are there any plans for a tour, and what should we expect?

We will tour when the new album is ready. We always go to Germany, because they feed us and treat us like human beings. We avoid places like London, because they don’t. We’ll definitely be heading to Canada at some point soon and it seems like Finland and Scotland would be good places to go, according to our interwebz data, at least. And yes, a kimono live show is a very good thing. Intense. Electrifying. All that good stuff. We seem to at least impress the type of people that we are proud to impress, so that’s always a good thing. (We love our fans. They are almost always awesome.)

Originally published on Iceland Review online.

Books & Vampires: World Book Night

This is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about World Book night, and obsession with books that Icelanders have. Contains scenes of vampires.

A few weeks ago, it was World Book Night. An annual event designed to promote the joys of reading a proper book, one with actual pages and everything. One million books were given away in one night by an army of volunteers.

World Book Night also distributes an impressive 620,000 books to hospitals, shelters, care homes and prisons throughout the year.

I really liked the idea from the outset. Firstly, I am a sucker for books and a visit to a bookshop, a really good one, can take hours out of my day.

Staff at Eymundson on Austurstræti in Reykjavík can confirm this. I think that there is a simple pleasure to holding and reading a book; one that e-publishing may ultimately struggle to recreate.

I also think it is commendable to give books to people that wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to read; the objective being to increase literacy rates.

The 620,000 books given to institutions can only be a good thing, right? But it’s the actual giving of the books from person to person that inspires me.

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let The Right One In by a complete stranger at my local library.

“Would you like one of these?” she said, pushing the thick copy into my hands. “It’s about a 12-year-old vampire.”

It’s not the sort of book I would usually read, admittedly, but I was thrilled to receive a gift from this pleasant lady, who clearly was just as thrilled to be making people happy by giving out copies of her favorite book.

I went home, and gave the book a try. I’m halfway through and so far it’s fantastically dark.

I was sorry to see then, that World Book Night does not currently operate in Iceland. It’s a bit like the American Baseball ‘World Series’, in that the use of the word “world” has been somewhat overplayed.

But it got me thinking. Does Iceland really need World Book Night?

First off, the literacy rate is already extremely high. There is little room or necessity for maneuver here. Iceland is rightly proud of the high standard of education amongst the population. What more could a single 24 hours provide?

Secondly, Icelanders already love their books. If the often quoted ‘Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country’ fact doesn’t prove this, then try standing in a book shop in downtown Reykjavík in December.

You will be lucky to stay on your feet in the stampede for books to give as Christmas gifts. Icelanders are already well aware of the pleasure of giving and receiving books.

There is something to be said about Iceland’s history of literature at this juncture. I’m not going to harp on about it but you may have heard about something called the sagas? And a certain Mr. Laxness?

The point I’m trying to make here is that Iceland has literature running through it like a strand of DNA.

Icelanders are—generally speaking—creative bunch and, do you know what? Writers are welcomed and celebrated in Iceland. One in ten Icelanders will publish something in their lifetime.

I feel much more comfortable discussing my own book with Icelandic friends than I do at home, where it’s viewed as something geeky, something dowdy, and something not to be proud of.

Finally, Icelandic fiction is bigger than ever. Authors such as Arnaldur Indriðason and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir have gotten their feet well and truly under the Nordic crime table and are reaping the benefits. Their books are selling out all over the world (as in the whole world, this time) and in myriad languages.

Hallgrímur Helgason is back on the scene (it’s been too long) with his first English language novel A Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning, and new authors such as Iceland Review’s very own Nanna Árnadóttir are making their very own steps into the literary world. Even if Zombie Iceland gave me nightmares for a week.

The simple fact is this: Icelanders love books. They love to read them, they love to write them and they love to give them as gifts.

I think it’s fair to say that every night is a book night in Iceland. And that’s fine with me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a 12-year-old vampire to deal with.