Every time I open a newspaper or magazine, a little (OK, large) part of me is wondering if there will by some chance be an article about Icelandic music. These discoveries are a delight, exciting to see coverage, and exciting to have that rare experience of knowing better than a journalist (sometimes!). In today's copy of The Observer - that's Britain's Sunday paper for intelligent people - was their very brilliant monthly music magazine. And what was inside as their feature article was possibly even more surprising than that much sought for Icelandic homage. Pages and pages about the music scene in The Faroe Islands, featuring the lovely Eivor Palsdottir (left) and the genuinely excellent Boys In A Band (right).
I'm really fond of Boys In A Band, and judging by the number of shows at Airwaves 2008, and the reception they got every single time, so is Iceland. They mix old fashioned rock with a slice of irony and something of the modern UK indie scene. Clash magazine got it perfectly, "They sound like The Strokes without that crushing pretension ruining it all or Jet with some balls and talent". They could be huge, maybe even should be huge. And I think that about a lot of the Icelandic bands too - so why not? It is possible of course that I am just massively biased towards Iceland, but I'm not alone - there a lot of people who hear bands like Mammut or Jeff Who? and agree that they sound like a big popular band. The article in The Observer today might shed some light on it, and confirm what I have suspected and heard elsewhere; that it is possible that these guys don't want to be famous (imagine that in these times of reality TV), that they feel safe and satisfied in Iceland or The Faroe Islands, there's no need to take that risk - they all have jobs and families. Here's a bit from the interview,
"It's hard to leave a place like this for the dangers of life on the
road," says Heri. "On the Faroes, nothing is a matter of life or death.
You will never be homeless or fucked up."
"It's a safe nest where
nothing bad will happen," adds bass player Sakaris, who, as the only
band member to live in the capital of Tórshavn, is known as the Big
City Boy. (Tórshavn is about the size of a reasonably large field.)
"You can leave for five years and when you come back the people look
and act exactly the same."
"There was a guy that took a safe from
a bank and tried to get it in his car," says Heri, as he racks his
brain to recall some drama. "He was in prison for two days. The safe
was empty anyway."
It's an excellent piece, I'm not going to paste any more of it on here - I really suggest you go and check it out by clicking here.
And, by the way Eivor and BIAB - you are in the UK press, how about a tour?
Hi!
Im looking for your email address but can´t find it?
I just wanted to send you some mp3 links
send me an email if interested
best wishes
Rasmus from Efterklang and Rumraket
Posted by: Rasmus Stolberg | June 18, 2009 at 11:33 AM