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Iceland's finest exclusively for i-D : Bjork and Sigur Ros in conversation chatting about carnivals, iTunes and perform an impromptu live gig in their front room. Interview by Ben Reardon, photography by Ari Magg |
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i-D |
In
1987 iceland was a remote country. both in geographical terms in regards
to people's subconscious. it existed north of the borders, on the
precipice of the northern lights: the home of icebergs, geysers, fjörds
and magnus magnuson. then björk happened. fronting her band the
sugarcubes, björk screamed her way into the charts with 'birthday',
heavily pregnant both with radical ideas and with son sindri (now 18 and
currently rocking out in a heavy metal band). she was an event, a
happening. she had to be seen to be believed. her voice belonged in the
other world, known to reduce people to floods of diamond tears with its
intense emotional impact. she launched her inevitable solo career and five
albums and one movie later, björk still furrows, she still burrows and
still borrows. whether from people she rolls with at the time - tricky,
polly harvey, talvin singh or the places she inhabits - reykjavík, london
or ny, where she currently resides with boyfriend matthew barney and baby
daughter isadora ("because she is adorable"). björk is a vessel
for innovation, a human gun to shoot ideas through. a pioneer, a
visionary. in her wake, iceland received attention from the western world
- but as much for damon albarn owning a local bar as for homespun talent.
that was until sigur rós arrived with a bang as loud as a snowflake
landing on the ground. with their quiet genius, the band made epic
soundscapes, rocked their own sound. although influenced by grand
matriarch björk, but not obviously so. sigur rós (icelandic for victory
rose) don't wear their badges on their sleeve. theirs was an art that
reverberated in its own beautiful ice cavern, detached yet inclusive, warm
yet cold. then last year, out of nowhere, they swagged the best video at
the mtv awards. beating missy elliott and the white stripes in a rare case
of substance over fame with an anti-war statement that accompanied their
song: 'untitled 1' from the album ( ), which ironically has never been
shown on mtv: it seemed like björk and sigur rós should be friends: they
must have swaggered home following drunken conversations about art, music,
video, life and death. but surprisingly, although both parties were aware
and admired each other's body of work, neither had actually met, until i-d
hooked them up. notoriously shy of publicity, sigur rós - fronted by
singer jónsi, guitarist kjartan and drummer orri - agreed to take part in
the interview because of björk. likewise, björk - currently working' on
a new as-yet-untitled album - agreed because of the chance to talk to her
young icelandic pretenders about the new music they composed for the merce
cunningham dance company and so it happened. we met in the local
fisherman's cafe, we ate cod chins (a local delicacy) and rolled drunkenly
around reykjavik. we went to a blue-themed easter party where björk
played justin timberlake, introduced jónsi to the wonder of 'peaches' and
colored my arms with poster paint. then jónsi and björk sang an awesome,
impromptu set with björk on harpsichord and jónsi on xylophone, both
voices from the heavens. here is the conversation that took place earlier
that day. so you guys have never met before?björk:
i guess we have mutual friends, right? we've known about each other
because it's a small town. do you all still live in iceland?björk:
i'm sort of 50/50 between here and new york. last year, for example, i was
seven months here and five there. it sort of depends, because my son goes
to school here. what impact did björk have on you growing up?jónsi:
she was always really weird, pregnant, dancing around, really strange.
(laughs) do you feel paternal towards bands coming out of iceland?björk:
i definitely get mushy when i read about them, i feel like their old aunt
or something. was iceland a direct inspiration when writing your new album?björk:
i guess my head was sort of between iceland and new york, then i escaped
to an island in the canary islands where not even the tourists go. it's
really small, and this guy lives there and he's just opened a studio in
his living room, so i went there and i was walking a lot. i don't know why
i have to walk when i write - it's the ocean air, the dodgy fishing
village, the dodgy food. i probably needed to get away; i had just become
a mum and stuff.
did you go on your own?björk:
i went with my engineer. what has been your favourite collaboration?björk:
that's hard to say, did you sing along?biörk:
come on, you pretend all your life you don't know the lyrics, but of
course you do! (laughs) who would you like to collaborate with?kjartan:
it's really hard for us to collaborate. because we've been playing
together since we were teenagers, we are not used to playing with anyone
else. what music is inspiring you at the moment?björk:
i'm quite inspired by my i-pod. shuffle, it's the new big thing, i've got
missy elliott, peaches and john cage. it's not exactly the songs, it's
what's between them. (laughs)
what about sigur rós?jónsi:
i'm just listening to two songs at the moment. they are the only songs on
my computer. i erased everything else so i had more space to record. your visuals are so important. do you enjoy doing photo shoots?björk:
i don't think i ever enjoyed it. it's more like i do it, then don't like
the results so try to come up with better ideas so it's bearable. have you planned your visuals for the next album?björk:
sort of. i need to finish the music first though, it's like having a
different head on. this time round i'm not sure if i'm going to do videos. how was winning the mtv award?kjartan:
very very drunk, the best thing was meeting beyoncé,
how was beyoncé? did she know sigur rós?kjartan:
probably not. orri lit a cigarette and she said 'oh, you are a smoker' and
turned around and walked sway. how do you feel about the state of the music industry now with downloading potentially closing smaller independents?björk:
i think that the structure of the entertainment industry has ten floors
full of people doing something it only takes five people to do. all these
people are losing their jobs, but sitting behind them are people who don't
care anymore, so i'm not going to make much money? that's okay because i
want to make music. the people who care about music aren't gonna leave.
you are doing it because you love music. do you ever worry that you'll lose your inspiration or muse?kjartan:
there's always something. what video are you most proud of?björk:
i don't look at it like that, i think it's more about the people who i
work with. like i did six videos with michel gondry, which is a lot.
michel is really possessive, he hates me working with other directors. he
calls me and threatens me. when he goes really neurotic and starts to
worry, he is almost like woody allen. you have to say, 'it's ok, you don't
have cancer'. he's really sweet. i only did one with chris cunningham, two
with spike jonze. maybe those three guys, people i still keep in touch
with. what do you think about the electroclash scene over there?björk:
when i first moved to ny in 2000, there was this place called passerby
which would only play that type of music. it's fun to go out get drunk and
dance to, but to go in the studio and make music like that for me isn't
creative, it's very retro. but then again, i think something always comes
out of it, right? like peaches, she's the best. i remember when the dance
thing was happening first and there would be house versions of old songs
always on the radio and now you are getting electroclash versions of
whitney houston. it feels like it's about to become something else, it's
fun. where do you find all these freaks?björk:
i'm always looking for acapella sites online with all these perverts. i
have to forward you the slayer version he does - the double drums are
amazing.
are you gonna go metal?björk:
isn't everything metal? we could do like a 'bohemian rhapsody' with the
same four people looped. (starts singing 'galileo')
do you think you'll ever move back to iceland?björk:
i sort of feel like i never left. when i was touring with the sugarcubes,
i would spend half my time away and half here. so it still feels like
that. what is the new sigur rós album sounding like?kjartan:
our next album is going to be full of pop songs, because the last album
was so heavy. so what next for you all?björk: we are gonna unite on the barbershop scene. it's a scene that needs help. no more sonar, no more glastonbury.kjartan: yeah let's take that barbershop thing on the road! björk: it'll be massive! kjartan: everyone will be doing it. björk: instruments will be like, sooo out, there will be no more speakers, everyone will just be singing. (imitates drumsound) kjartan: people don't sing as much as they used to, only karaoke. björk: my family always sings. jónsi: when icelandic people come together they have to sing icelandic songs. björk: i think icelandic and irish people are really similar you know that dance that came from spain? the macarena? well, it was huge everywhere, number one all over the world, except in ireland and iceland. because when we get pissed, we don't wanna go like this [starts dancing the macarena], we wanna go like this. [at which point björk grabs her glass and bursts into song] björk is presently doing final mixes for her new, as yet untitled, album to be released later this year. for more information check out www.bjork.com. sigur rós release ba ba, ti ki, di do, the three pieces of music to their split sides collaboration with the merce cunningham dance company, on june 16.2004 the music is also now available exclusively through itunes. |
Sigur Ros Newspapers and Magazines Main Page
Sigur Rós:
Jón Þór Birgisson
(vocals, guitar), Georg Holm (bass),
Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards/piano),
Orri Páll Dýrason (drums)
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