#Gyða Valtýsdóttir

[deathmentaal]

G Y Ð A Í Annarri Vídd

[jodanilo]

'While you live, shine.'

I fell in love with a song by Gyða Valtýsdóttir a few months ago, and have been annoying the whole family by playing it way too much. It’s haunting and unusual, and in a foreign language. As the artist is Icelandic and I don’t know any Icelandic, I presumed the song was in her language. I was very wrong. The title started me thinking. It looked very Greek. So I searched it up and found that the…

[nofatclips]

Drifter (Dream On) by JFDR from the Dream On EP - Directed by Emily Avila

[iamedie]

Death Is Elsewhere - Ragnar Kjartansson

I'm still humming that song.

[devotress]

unreal...

[kouji-funamoto]

múm - Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK [Full Album]

[dustedmagazine]

Tomberlin — i don’t know who needs to hear this (Saddle Creek)

Photo by Mark Silverstein

i don’t know who needs to hear this... by Tomberlin

Tomberlin moved to Brooklyn while she was writing i don’t know who needs to hear this, leaving behind family, friends, old loves and a bible belt upbringing on the way. The indie folk songwriter, whose self-recorded At Weddings caught Saddle Creek’s ear, has a lovely, water-pure soprano and an unaffected delivery, but the new album takes her beyond those basics. Her work here is urbane and sophisticated. A pulse of syncopated rhythm clicks in the background of many of these tracks, which are colored not just by strummed guitar but also eerie pedal steel, bowed bass and cello and occasional woodwinds.

An extensive list of collaborators worked with Tomberlin on this record— Gyða Valtýsdóttir from Múm, Felix Walworth of Told Slant, Cass McCombs, Stuart Bogie and Shahzad Ismaily, among others—and yet the songs remain quiet, airy and full of space. “born again runner” simmers subtly with hushed percussion and arcs of mutating pedal steel guitar that spin off towards the horizon, yet the song has a still, meditative center. Tomberlin’s voice is particularly lovely here, whether distilled into a single piercing melodic line or doubled in harmonies, touched with hurt and anger or shored up in quiet resolution. The song is about her coming out as queer to parents steeped in fundamentalism, and yet she mutes and calms the drama. 

The songs gain weight and heft as the album goes on, with a couple of rockers near the end. “stoned” rages on ringing guitar lines and muttering, buzzing bass, while “happy accident” has an almost Crazy Horse-ish buzz of slow rolling distortion to it; Tomberlin lets a little yelp and wail into her up-to-now measured delivery. Still, the prettiest moments are low in volume, high in intensity. The title cut “idkwntht” makes its case with soft piano runs, a steady guitar thrum, slow blooming clarinet notes and a warm echoing call and response. It peels back to essentials, a lovely melody tossed from Tomberlin to another singer and back again. There’s nothing fancy about the track or the arrangement, but you can hear it in your sleep in just a little while, simple and perfect and a little bit more sophisticated than you expect from indie folk. 

Jennifer Kelly

[sasomienspegel]

Ave, generosa,

Gloriosa et intacta puella.

[adsmusiconstellations]

Dustin O'Halloran & Gyða Valtýsdóttir – Constellation No. 2 (Silfur, 2021)

Official Music Video / Listen to 'Silfur': https://dg.lnk.to/silfur

video created by film-maker and photographer Anna Maggý

http://deutschegrammophon.com / https://dustinohalloran.com

[glenrocklibraryteens]

Top 4 Bands and Artists That Have Really Piqued My Interest This Past Year

blog post by OT

With the Dark Age of Covid finally coming to an end, I (and I’m sure many others out there) have been avidly listening to music even more than usual in anticipation of all the newly opened opportunities to look forward to this summer (and beyond). During this very musical time in my life, I have come across a wide variety of bands and artists that I find extremely interesting and inspiring and are now among my favorites. Here are 4:

Múm Múm is an experimental music band from Iceland. They were started in 1997 by Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason. Later, they were joined by twin sisters  GyðaValtýsdóttir and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir. After Gyða and Kristín left the band in 2006, a large group of other musicians joined, including a cellist, another vocalist, and more (I've noticed that they began to sound slightly different in their more recently released albums, but until I realized they changed out their singers I had always thought it was just that their accents were going away…). They are known for using various unconventional instruments and have a very soft, mysterious, and slightly abstract-artsy sound. A favorite song by Múm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oor8-n37JZM   Florence + The Machine Florence + The Machine is a British indie rock band started in London in 2007. It is made up of vocalist Florence Welsh, keyboardist Isabella Summers, and others. In 2010, the band held the position of #2 on the UK albums chart for 5 weeks! They have done the theme songs for various movies as well, including Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) and Cruella (2021). They are known for having a rather eccentric and dramatic sound, and their songs very often inspire me to write and draw! A favorite song by Florence + The Machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON2_e1HB1JM Gregory and the Hawk Gregory and the Hawk actually isn’t a band at all… it’s the pseudonym used by the indie folk singer-songwriter Meredith Godreau! She began in 2003 with her debut Self-Titled Demo album. Her music has a very folky, acoustic, and kind of rock-like sound, and is quite relaxing and comforting to listen to. ~ A favorite song by Gregory and the Hawk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QYmk593hP4 AURORA AURORA is a singer-songwriter based in Bergen, Norway who began her career with her first track “Puppet” in 2012. Since then, she has released 3 albums, various EPs, and has done the theme songs for movies such as Wolfwalkers (2020), The Secret Garden (2020) and Frozen 2 (2020)! She also recently came out with many very cool singles and collaborations with other artists. Her sound is a lot like alternative pop and is quite relaxing and mysteriously classy. She is very inspired by nature (which there is a lot of in Norway), and is known for her inspiring, carefree uniqueness. Highly recommend! A favorite song by AURORA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K17df81RL9Y   

[launderground]

DUSTIN O'HALLORAN & GYÐA VALTÝSDÓTTIR : CONSTELLATION NO. 2

[nofatclips]

The Truth, The Glow, The Fall by Anna von Hausswolff from the album Dead Magic

[iamedie]

Death Is Elsewhere - Ragnar Kjartansson

Haunting.