Your new single ‘City Dream’ was released on Epic Amsterdam/Sony Music and Produced by Tim Bran and Roy Kerr (MyRiot), how has the single been going for you?
Really good! – it’s been nice, Exciting to put out something new and City Dream is a bit of a gateway into what is coming next and people seem to dig it!, which is great.
How did you come to work with Tim and Roy and how the experience?
I thought Roy would be perfect! I’m a huge fan of the London Grammar records, and I thought it might be possible to reach out to him, but I still felt like it was a distant dream, but we reached out and Tim and Roy liked the music, so it was an easy transaction in the end. and as expected the experience was amazing, Love working with them, they are incredible!
Where and when did you record ‘ City Dream ?
In London in July!
How did you get into music and singling?
Music was all around me when I was a child, my brother is a musician, my father is a guitar collector and has always been out and about playing in his blues cover bands.
My mom pushed me into taking classical guitar lessons when I was 7 but I quit that after few weeks, cause the teacher didn’t teach me how to play chords. And I just wanted to play chords like my brother and I was stubborn. I think I got into singing from the the video game Singstar and copying my sister, cause she was taking vocal lessons and was singing around the house all of the time. From what I remember, I kinda just started singing and playing guitar cause me siblings were doing it, and it felt like the right thing to do. And then quickly I developed a heavy interest for it cause I found confidence in it which I lacked elsewhere. This development was from around 7-10 years old.
Your from the Icelandic town of Akureyri where you studied art, what did your study entail and did it help with your musical inspiration?
I’m actually from Húsavík which is a even smaller village near Akureyri. I just went to high school in Akureyri, and yes I studied art there, we had all sorts of classes there, but mostly it was just the ground knowledge of the concept of art. we got a sneak peak into every little world we wanted to know better. Painting, photography, colours in general. Architecture, you name it. we got a good sense of it all if we wanted to. Cause the aim was for us to choose a path from there. I always found inspiration there, And did paintings that were from lyrics I wrote and wise versa. So just had a bunch of fun, with working on ideas there.
Amsterdam is your new home, how has the transition been from Iceland to the Netherlands?
I think the biggest change is just the way I view the size of the world. In Iceland you get really easily isolated to the idea of the grass being greener everywhere else. But I’ve just kinda learned that no matter where u are, there are always pros and cons.
You were discovered in 2015 following the release of your debut EP ‘Forest Fires’, which attracted huge huge acclaim and gained well over 20 million dtreams. What was the influence behind “Forest Fires’ and why do you think think this EP was so well received?
There are of course many reasons, But I’m not sure, I feel like it was mostly being the right person at the right time. I wrote Forest Fires in my teens, and it was the leading track of an album I was working on at that time. I had released 3 different Ep’s on my Soundcloud at that time, and I was just kinda always waiting to get to record my music in a proper studio, or with a proper producer. And the Forest Fires EP was the first project I did with a producer. After I got a little team, a manager that helped me, gave me a loan for the recording cost, a little uk based label that prepped the release and out came Forest Fires as the first track.
What programs and instruments do you use?
What inspires me the most is warm nice cracky upright pianos, and old acoustic guitars. That’s where I’d like to start, and I use logic X to record the tracks.
In 2016 you signed to Epic Amsterdam/Sony Music which then led to consistent touring across the UK and Europe in support of his cousin – global indie-pop singer Ásgeir. What are the greatest challenges and joys of such a heavy touring schedule?
I think a heavy touring schedule would be my own tours rather then that one tour I did with Asgeir, That was the best touring experience I have had, I got to stay on the bus with the guys and it was all fantastic. But I’m still working my way up there. But In our tours, I love playing, playing is the best part. The hardest part is probably getting 2-3 hour sleeps for flights and trying to perform well the day after.
Who are you currently listening to?
well, my most recent playlist includes, Pale Waves, M83, Aquilo, Bon Iver, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Aces, Muna, VHS Collection and many more…
What’s planned for the future?
I’m finishing my First full length album at the moment, there will be one little EP before we release the LP and the usual: Festivals, more touring, and more touring, and hopefully more touring after that. 🙂
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