Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pop
Iceland punches above its weight in the pop music world. Internationally famous Icelandic
musicians include (of course) Björk and her former band, The Sugarcubes. When you're in
Reykjavík, look out for the bestselling
Gling Gló,
a collection of Björk-sung jazz standar-
ds and traditional Icelandic songs; a recording that's quite difficult to find outside the
country.
Sigur Rós have followed Björk to stardom. Their biggest-selling album
Takk
(2005)
garnered rave reviews around the world. It was followed by the poppier
Með suð í eyrum
við spilum endalaust
(2007); the band's concert movie
Heima
(2007) is a must-see. After a
long hiatus they released their sixth and seventh studio albums:
Valtari
(2012) and
Kveikur
(2013). Lead singer Jónsi had success with his joyful solo album
Go
(2010).
Indie-folk Of Monsters and Men stormed the US charts in 2011 with their debut album,
My Head is an Animal
. The track 'Little Talks' from that album reached number one on the
Billboard US Alternative Songs chart in 2012. Their song 'Silhouettes' was on one of the
Hunger Games
soundtracks.
Most lately Ásgeir Trausti, who records simply as Ásgeir, had a breakout hit with
In the
Silence
(2014), an English-language album, and has been selling out concerts internation-
ally.
You may also be familiar with Emiliana Torrini, the Icelandic-Italian singer who sang
the spooky 'Gollum's Song' in the Lord of the Rings film
The Two Towers
(2002).
Back home, Reykjavík has a flourishing music scene with a constantly changing line-up
of new bands and sounds - see
www.icelandmusic.is
for an idea of the variety. Seabear, an
indie-folk band, have spawned several top music-makers such as Sin Fang (try
Flowers
from 2013) and Sóley (
We Sink
from 2012). Árstíðir record minimalist indie-folk, and had
a 2013 YouTube viral hit when they sang a 13th-century Icelandic hymn a cappella in a
train station in Germany.
GusGus, a local pop-electronica act, have nine studio albums to their credit and opened
for Justin Timberlake at his sold-out 2014 concert in Reykjavík.
Other local acts include FM Belfast (an electronica band who set up their own recording
label to release their first album,
How to Make Friends
, 2008); their latest is
Brighter
Days
, 2014); múm (experimental electronica mixed with traditional instruments; their
latest is
Smilewound
, 2013); Mínus (whose thrashy guitars have supported Foo Fighters
