Jófríður
Björk recently named Jofriður Akadottir as one of her favourite new artists in a piece for The Guardian. In that article, Björk admitted her obsession for Jofriður’s innovative techno band Samaris and praised her other work.
For someone who has just entered her 20’s, Jofriður has released a hell of a lot of music. She began releasing music at 15 with her band Pascal Pinon, and has since released three albums with Samaris, one album under her solo moniker JFDR and a number of singles with electronic act GANGLY.
In 2016 alone, Jofriður has released two critically acclaimed albums, first with Samaris in June and second with Pascal Pinon in August. The Pascal Pinon record ‘Sundur’ is the third album she has released with her twin sister Ásthildur and arguably their best yet. ‘Sundur’ translates literally as apart, and documents the time when Jofriður and Ásthildur lived separately for the first time.
In our Q&A below, Jofriður tells me about the exhaustion that comes with releasing so much music, the emotional nature of ‘Sundur’ and how without her Dad the album probably wouldn’t exist today.
Sundur feels to be about two break ups – a sibling break up and a romantic break up – how was it to write about two such emotional things?
The songwriting itself was probably the simplest part of the whole process. It can be incredibly therapeutic to stitch together your thoughts and feelings in the form of poetry and music. It’s a way to make sense of things and to communicate with yourself and the world around you.
There’s also the song about a friend’s mother committing suicide. Can you work out why this album is so overtly emotional?
Emotional times call for emotional tunes.
That particular song I put together not only as a kind of a message or consolation but also as an attempt to say thank you for the honesty and trust I was shown.
Skamdegi is about the short days in Iceland. As a U.K. native it’s hard for us to contemplate having very little light in a day, how do you cope with it?
It’s all a part of a cycle, you just got to carry on and wait, the sun always comes back. It can be tough but we have a lot of lights, especially around christmas, and it’s a good time to stay inside and be creative.
Me and my girlfriend just had a road trip across the south of Iceland. It was amazing. What part of life in Iceland is most prevalent on this record?
I like the emptiness of the landscape, particularly in the south. It fits well with the album, it’s very sparse and open.
Pascal Pinon – Sundur
With GANGLY, Samaris, JFDR and Pascal Pinon, you have lots of projects. How do you ensure that each one keeps its identity? Are you quite happy to fuse the sounds of one project with another?
It’s definitely a challenge, especially as each project grows they start to demand more of me and sometimes it’s hard to stay focused. I really felt it over Iceland Airwaves when I was playing with various projects back to back, I was able to go deeper into each character and notice what makes it different and what ties it all together.
This album was a real family affair. Tell us about your Dad’s involvement in it? Does that make this album even more personal?
Our dad saved this album. He was the one who picked us up and took us to the studio, stayed there with us the whole time and engineered the session, he was the one who kept asking us about it, helped us pre-mix it and lent his ideas and vision on the production side of things. If he hadn’t been there and supported us it probably wouldn’t exist today.
Music has always been a prominent part of your life, with you starting pascal pinon at 14. What’s it been like to have been in the public eye from such a young age? Has there been any point when you’ve not enjoyed making music?
Starting early was a good thing in the sense I have a lot of different experiences that all help me today and are a part of who I am.
The moments I’ve lost my spirits have come from exhaustion or when there’s a conflict. All those I’m still constantly learning how to deal with or avoid.
How has the tour been?
Tour was lovely ! Good to be back on the road.
What do you plan to do next, both yourself and Pascal Piñon?
Rest and enjoy the holidays.
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Hi all, my name is Paddy and I have a love for everything from African music to indie to house (basically anything other than heavy metal). Gigging and listening to albums are genuinely the things I most value and love doing.
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