Who are the Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar 2014 winners?

Earth Divide is straight from the pounding heart of the North Atlantic. 

With rhythmic, progressive energy and uncompromising live performances

Earth Divide is a five piece progressive metal band from the Faroe Islands.

The band originates from the capital of Tórshavn and all the members have various backgrounds in the Faroese music scene. 

The band formed in early 2010 to compete in a local music competion called Sement and received a very positive response which inspired the band to write and play on a broader scale. And over the course of two years continued to play concerts within the Faroe Islands and strived to improve their craft.

Since 2010 the band has undergone some line-up changes, among which John Áki Egholm (from Hamferð) contributed to the band on guitar for a period of time. He was then replaced by Fríði Tanggaard Bjørgvin (from Oniontree) who joined in february of 2012, along with bass player Tinna Tótudóttir (former bassplayer of Hamferð) who then left the band in 2013 and was replaced by former SIC (who won last year's Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar) bass player Gudmar Hansen.

In early 2012 the band decided to take their music in a new direction and Earth Divide of today was born. And in March the same year the band performed at its first international competition, Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar, for the very first time with the new line-up, raving good reviews from both the audience, judges and reviewers, which led to several gigs played during the summer of 2012.

Since then the band has been working on new material and has released a debut EP, which was released in March 2013. The EP is co-produced by Theodor Kapnas from Hamferð and mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Soilwork to name a few).

16th March 2013, Earth Divide made its second appearance on Wacken Metal Battle in Faroe Islands. While having recieved positive feedback from last year’s performance, the band felt obliged to enter the competition one more time, with improvement to their craft, as it is a great oppurtunity to first and foremost play concerts abroad and raise awareness. 

In July 2013 Earth Divide participated in the Ferðin til Heljar tour with Icelandic death metallers Angist. Wherein they played in several different venues in Iceland and Faroe Islands, including Icelandic Eistnaflug festival and Faroese G! festival.

On March 8, Earth Divide took again part in the Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar 2014, winning the competition and getting the chance to play at Wacken Open Air (Germany) next August.

Earth Divide current line up

Jóhan Fríðrikur Sanderson - Vocals

Henning Jensen - Guitar

Fríði Tanggaard Bjørgvin - Guitar

Gudmar Hansen - Bass 

Sigurd Justinussen - Drums

More about Earth Divide
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on YouTube

All the pictures in this article (except the second one) by Eija Mäkivuoti Photography

Live report: Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar 2014

Last edition to close a cycle, since the competition will take a break next year, Wacken Metal Battle 2014 Føroyar was held, as usual, in the old theater in the Faroese capital Tórshavn, called Sjónleikarahúsið.

As in the last few years, the competition was opened by the meet&greet between the spokemen of all the bands taking part into the Battle, the press and the jury, composed this year by Kári Streymoy, former drummer of Faroese metal band Týr, Jörg Düsedau, from the German promotion agency Dragon Productions, Kasper Molin, boss of the Danish promoting and booking company Livescenen and longtime organizer of the Wacken Metal Battle Danemark and Jan Roger Pettersen, his Norwegian counterpart. The judges, who have all been working in the metal scene for many years and with great experience in competitions, were able to give many useful advices to the bands running for a place in the final Battle at Wacken Open Air, and wisely reminded that Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar expecially is an excellent opportunity to have fun and improve everyone's network, without necessarily have fight all the time against the others.

In the evening, despite the weather getting worse by the minute, people began nonetheless to fill the theater and at 20 o'clock Ragnar Jacobsen, well-known anchor of a Faroese radio station and, as usual, hosting the event, finally let the madness begin...

CETICIDE

First band up was Ceticide, a recently founded joke death metal band. The band members knew how not to take themselves too seriously and their music ironically focused on the concept of ceticide, since most of the foreign media know nothing about Faroese people, but that they are "bloody whales slaughters". Anyone willing to spend no more than ten minutes of their lives on this issue doing some research on the Internet, knows that the reality is way different from what the media depict it to be, and Ceticide were performing exactly for this kind of audience. The band started its ironic show with a scary intro quoting "I am the devil ... and I'm here to do the devil's work" from the movie Devil's Rejects by Rob Zombie and, although there were no graphic references about the theme, all their joke lyrics made references on this matter. Their death metal, though, was no joke: with an aggressive style, reminding the audience of Lamb of God, Ceticide delivered some good brutal death metal with interesting tracks and a very energic style. The only flaw of their gig, so to speak, has been their frontman excessive coldness with the public, since he barely say a word throughout the whole set, basically leaving all the twenty minutes to music. But, on the other hand, I have to remind this was the first concert ever, for Ceticide...

SETLIST CETICIDE

1. Rite of Passage
2. Dead Shores
3. Dying Whales
4. Ocean Graveyard
5. The Endling

REDUCED TO ASH

After fifteen minutes, singer Eyðun Hvannastein was again on stage, this time leading Reduced to Ash, a band that had already taken part into the last edition of the competition. After releasing an interesting EP towards the end of 2013, Reduced to Ash came back on stage performing a gig quite similar to last year's: all the five track followed in fact a linear melodic death metal style, that gathered all the public's attention, but was far from adding anything new or innovative to their music. Once more, the main flaw this year was again the limited stage presence of all the musicians, who could have delivered way more, given the genre of music brought on stage. Nonetheless, I do believe they will have many opportunities to improve in the future... 

SETLIST REDUCED TO ASH

1. In The Serpent's Lair
2. Chain The Soul
3. Blindfolded We Are
4. Growth
5. Mind

EARTH DIVIDE

Running for a place in the Battle finals at Wacken Open Air for the third consecutive year, Earth Divide performed once more on this very stage in 2014. This five piece quite easily delivered the most compelling and most successful performance of the whole evening, showing that they indeed have found their balance, greatly improving from the past gigs and having almost reached the necessary strenght to compete against other groups even outside the Faroes. Lead by its energetic frontman Jóhan Fríðrikur Sanderson, the band ranged within its limited discography (just one EP has been released), wisely choosing the songs to play, really being able to deliver on stage. All the audience (and, hidden in a corner, the jury) definitely seemed to appreciate...

SETLIST EARTH DIVIDE

1. Godless
2. Claustrophobia
3. The Seed
4. Primal

ASYLLEX

Another band that had already partecipated to the last edition of the Wacken Metal Battle Føroyar was Asyllex, an extremely young band with a great potential, which is gradually growing and finding their own way. After changing their singer, the four musicians coming from the southern island of Suðuroy once more put up an exciting set, exclusively playing old school thrash metal, reminding the audience about the old good days in the Bay Area, but still showing room for improvement. The new frontman, Hans Hammer, with some interesting Kreatorish vocals, managed to lead the band to a successful gig, despite a technical problem with the microphone in the end. A band that may not have revolutionized thrash metal, but that surely has a great future ahead...

SETLIST ASYLLEX

1. Destroyer
2. Fading
3. Diabolic Arrival
4. Can't Trust Anyone
5. Conspiracy

IRON LUNGS

Iron Lungs were the other newbie band taking part into the competition. Or at least, partially. In fact, some of the members of this band had already taken part into Wacken Metal Battle in the last years, but as musicians belonging to other groups. Founded in 2013, Iron Lungs still lacked a certain stability, expecially when it came to their line-up, and seemed not to have their ideas 100% clear. Already during the meet&greet, in fact, while answering to the classic question "what kind of music do you play?" asked by one of the judges, Iron Lungs's spokeman said "We are inspired by Hamferð, but we do not play so slowly [...] we want to create some kind of music you can headbanging to". Basically everything and nothing. 

On stage, Iron Lungs, lead by singer Fridi Djurhuus (who seemed to have improved its performance if compared to the previous year), eventually delivered some nice progressive metal tracks, all having a medium-slow rhythm. However, what was clearly still missing in this band, which of course is just at its very beginning, was the smoothness. In fact, within the tracks, there were several parts that, despite being mostly quite good and interesting, still sounded like they were lacking several crucial connections between each other...

SETLIST IRON LUNGS 

1. Shatter The Stratosphere
2. A Scream From The Spectral Universe
3. Andromedan
4. Hunt Of The Tetramorph

JÜRGHINN

Last to come on stage for this evening, although not taking part in the competition, were Jürghinn, a Faroese hard rock/heavy metal combo. Given the special occasion, the band decided to deliver a special show, consisting completely of well-known heavy metal cover songs (among others, All My Friends Are Dead by Turbonegro, Breaking the Law and a version of Seek and Destroy enriched by unexpected extra backing vocals), that without a doubt made the audience's night. Jürghinn, led by a skilled and affable frontman John Áki Egholm, delivered an extremely energetic set (that though lasted for 45 minutes, instead of the expected hour), that gathered into the theater almost anyone attending the event, keeping their spirits high. 

Almost at half past midnight, as planned, all the musicians gathered on stage, together with the judges and the organizers. First to talk was Teitur Fossaberg, who thanked everyone for attending the Battle and turning it to a successful event. Next in line were the judges, that personally made a speech, commenting the competition, the groups and the value of all the musicians. Last judge to take the floor was of course Kári Streymoy, who was in charge of announcing the winner. Not surprisingly, the winners were Earth Divide, that will take part, along with the many other winners of the Metal Battle around the world, to the finals at the Wacken Open Air this August. For all the bands, organizers and audience, then it was just time to party..

All pictures by Eija Mäkivuoti Photography

Interview: Hamferð

Read the Italian version of the interview here

Today we have as guests Jón Aldará and Theodor Kapnas, frontman and guitarist of the Faroese doom metal band Hamferð. Welcome!

First of all, let’s start talking about your latest album, Evst, which is about to be released worldwide via TUTL Records. Evst focuses on a story of sadness and loss, which develops itself during the entire length of your album. Is it what you were planning to create from the very beginning? What inspired you? And would you define it as a concept album?

Jón I would certainly define it as a concept album, since the lyrics tell a chronological story with a beginning and an end and the music is intended to give a feeling of progression throughout the album. It was always the idea to design an isolated story for the album that is also connected to the Vilst er síðsta fet EP in concept. The intention is to maintain a fictional world where the stories and characters are interrelated and can be developed unattached to trends or actual events and wherein we can feed a more emotionally and poetically based version of Faroese culture. So of course, we are highly inspired by the Faroe Islands in general; nature, weather, history, society, culture and especially the harsher and darker aspects of these.

Like in your first EP Vilst er síðsta fet, also in Evst you have taken the unusual decision of performing all your lyrics in your mother tongue, Faroese language. What do you think are the strengths of such choice? And how would you describe Evst lyrics to a non-Faroese speaking public?

Jón The strengths are many, especially the fact that we can attain a stronger concept this way. Also, it is no lie that a singer has an emotive advantage when singing in his first language. The flow is more natural and the possibilities for expression are more abundant. To me, it a beautiful language as well, and it can be both harsh and punishing in some cases, while in other cases it can be gentle and frail. The lyrics of Evst are actually more like a large, multi-part poem. They are not bluntly descriptive of every physical ocurrences in the story but rather they express the experiences of the main character in a completely subjective manner, revealing his imperfections, miscalculations and emotions in each situation in which he finds himself.

Just as your lyrics, so can Evst be defined as an almost 100% Faroese album. It’s been recorded on the Islands and your label, artwork artist and guest musicians are all Faroese. What are the reasons behind these peculiar choices?

Theodor It just came naturally. We've been working with TUTL for a few years and I work in Studio Bloch where the album was recorded.  Regarding the guest musicians, it'd be impossible to ask an artist from abroad to sound Faroese. We are heavily inspired by our surroundings and by the special atmosphere which is present in the Faroe Islands so it feels completely natural to use other artists who understand those feelings. There is also the simple fact that we know most of the artists that we work with which makes it easier to get a collaboration to work. And when we get to work with people such as Eivør, ORKA and Jón Sonni Jensen here in the Faroe Islands we have no reason to go looking any further.

Talking about the other artists taking part in your latest release: how would you describe the experience of having one of the most popular Faroese singers, Eivør Pálsdóttir, as a guest in Sinnisloysi and, above all, of sharing your stage with her?

Jón Eivør is a wonderfully creative and lovely person who is hard-working and still has a very relaxed attitude, so it’s always a delight meeting her and working with her. The parts she did on Sinnisloysi turned out amazing, so it was a purely positive experience. Sharing the stage with her was just the icing on the cake, as she has a very strong stage-presence and lights up anything she’s involved in. But the fact that she is one of the best known Faroese musicians didn’t really play any role. Both parties were interested in doing something together, and it ended up being more or less a perfect match.

You have also included to your album some fragments recorded by the Faroese band ORKA for their FØROYAR 5.2 project, which allow your fans to listen to some of the sounds coming from the Faroese underground, while being immersed into a doom metal atmosphere. How would you describe this unique final result?

Theodor I'm very pleased with the result. For those who haven't heard about the project, ORKA's Føroyar 5.2 is a combination of seismology and audio, any readers who haven't heard of it should check it out! They tapped into a few seismographs around the Faroe Islands and converted the seismic signals to audio. Therefore it's literally the sound of the Faroese underground. They've based a project around the collected audio, both background noise and the seismic signals from when they hit the mountains with sledgehammers, explosions etc.  I was at the first exhibition of the project and was completely blown away by it. By that time we had already decided upon the concept of Evst where the protagonist ends up living inside a mountain where he slowly goes crazy. And what better way to describe that feeling than the actual rumbling of the Faroese mountains? ORKA were kind enough to allow us to use a few samples for it, we sat down one evening and edited a few parts which then ended up on the album. I think it turned out great and it's one of the things on the album which I'm personally very proud of.

Evst is about to be released almost three years after your Vilst er síðsta fet. Do you think that your music, as well as the band itself, has changed or, in a way, matured meanwhile?

Jón Yes, in a way. I’m not sure if that change can be heard directly on the album, since the writing for Evst was not the same as for Vilst er síðsta fet, which means that the two albums will automatically contain noticeable differences. But in terms of taste, musicianship and confidence we’ve all grown – together as well as individually – and I think our idea of Hamferð as a band has become far more lucid. We’re learning more and more about what we want for the band and what we need to make it feel whole but still expanding.

Theodor When we started recording Vilst er síðsta fet I still hadn't played a proper show for Hamferð and Jón had only performed our very first shows in 2008 so we were a very new band. Some of the material had existed for some time while some of the material was brand new so it was a pretty varied album. I'm still proud of the EP, especially considering the circumstances, but we've played much more together since then and the band has come on leaps and bounds. We spent more time on this album, knew each other better and knew from the onset what we were going for. Recording the album in a world-class studio instead of my bedroom also helped. I personally feel that all those things have made Evst a huge improvement on Vilst er síðsta fet on all levels which is only natural. We already have a list of things we want to do differently on the next album so hopefully we can continue progressing.

Have you worked for a long time, to arrange and record this full-length? Did you have to change something throughout the recording business, or has everything gone as planned?

Theodor We've worked a very, very long time on this album. Especially me since I was both very involved in the songwriting and I produced and mixed the album as well. The first riffs were ready two years ago, but the album was probably written throughout most of 2012 and a bit into 2013.  The recordings went pretty smooth since we were really well prepared. We did end up spending an extra weekend on the vocals and some of the overdubs and solos were done quite late in the process, but that's just because we're perfectionists and are never quite happy haha. But everything turned out really well if you ask me.

For me personally the biggest issue during the whole process was mixing the album. When you've written and recorded an album it's really easy to lose perspective of what it really sounds like and focus on small, unnecessary details instead. I started mixing it in June and got stuck, it sounded terrible. I got Gregory Tomao from The Tomato Farm Studio in New York to reamp the guitars to get some fresh perspective and I took a break from the project for a few weeks. And when I came back to it I had a fresh state of mind and finished it quite quickly.

During your live performances, you never lose your grim, elegant, gloomy on-stage attitude. What kind of feelings are you trying to instill to your audience?

Jón In essence, we are trying to tell stories containing strong emotional content. But of course, it’s not necessary to know exactly what we sing about to enjoy our performance, since we try to write according to what kind of story or story-piece we want to convey. The emotions we express on stage are typically ones of sorrow, loss, despair, bewilderment and such, but what we wish for the audience is to consider this expression as a type of psychological release that we hope they can relate to, and if they exit the venue afterwards feeling uplifted and satisfied, then we’ve achieved our goal.

Hamferð is also about to start touring central Europe, promoting your music throughout several different countries. What are you expecting from this new experience?

Theodor I don't really know what to expect to be perfectly honest. But we're looking forward to it! We've had a really good PR campaign going, we're getting features in some of the bigger metal magazines in Germany and I hope that makes a difference. Playing outside the Faroe Islands is obviously a different experience, most people out there have never heard of Hamferð so it's definitely a challenge. But we strongly believe in what we're doing and we have a really strong setup around the band so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. Let's see what happens!

How is it going with your label, Faroese TUTL Records, especially after turning down a gained international label contract? Have you managed to continue your work without any unwanted influences?

Theodor We feel really priviliged to work with a label like TUTL. They supported us from day one and gave us a platform to write and release music even though nobody had ever heard of us before. We've been lucky enough that while the band has grown TUTL's capacity has also grown. That means we can actually release an album internationally with a proper PR campaign, release tour etc. while still being signed to TUTL. They have been extremely supportive throughout the years and they definitely help inspire us to do our best.

Which other metal bands have inspired Hamferð, from its foundation onwards?

Jón I would imagine that John would be the most qualified person to answer that, since he founded the band and wrote most of the earlier material. As far as I can recall, he was inspired by bands like My Dying Bride and Katatonia, for example. Otherwise, each member is very different in regards to musical taste. Myself, I’ve never listened that much to doom metal and still only do to a limited degree, so my inspirations come from pretty much all over and nowhere. I’m never aware of any specific musical influence when I do vocals for Hamferð, though, so it’s difficult for me to mention bands. Gun to my head, I’d say Maiden, ELO, Bal-Sagoth, Nevermore, Moonsorrow and Rotting Christ, but that’s just the very tip of the mountain.

Theodor As Jón says we all have very different tastes. I don't think there's any particular band or type of music which inspires me to write Hamferð material nowadays. This last year the closest bet would probably be Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony or something like that(doomier than most doom metal!). And before that I've been very inspired by Swallow The Sun. But it's slowly getting to a point where we are getting a clear vision of what we want Hamferð to sound like which is independent from any direct outside influences.

Our interview is now coming to its end. Thanks to both of you for the time you’ve spent answering our questions. Would you like to say something more to our Italian readers?

Jón Thank you very much yourself. We didn’t make it back to Italy in 2013, but we’re very hopeful for 2014. Can’t hurt to get the album, just in case we come to Italy unexpectedly and you want to be able to sing along!

Hamferð discography
Vilst er Síðsta Fet  (EP, 2010)
Evst (2013)

Go listen to Evst on Spotify and buy the album on TUTL official webpage, iTunes and EMP

More about Hamferð on their Facebook and YouTube pages

For all the pictures in this article, credits to: Bjartur Vest Photography, Eija Mäkivuoti Photography

Interview: Stilla

Stilla is a recently founded black metal band from Southern Sweden. Till stilla falla, their brand new album, has enchanted Europe with its dark and mysterious atmospheres. Andreas Johansson, bass man of the band, tells why have been the choices and inspirations behind this work of art...

Today we have as a guest the recently founded Swedish black metal band Stilla and one of its members, Andreas Johansson. Welcome! 

First of all, let’s talk about the choice of the name of this band. Stilla, in Swedish, gives out the idea of something silent, quiet, still and this concept is reminded also by the name of your full-length, Till stilla falla. Which are the reasons behind these choices?

Thank you. Your interpretation is correct; consider the silence of a vast field or murky forest bereft of civilization, or the quietude of total heatdeath at the end of the Universe. The album title refers to the end and disintegration of the soul - “To fall into stillness” would be a proper translation.

Also the artwork you’ve chosen for this release is a strong reminder of the long, cold and snowy Nordic winter and of the almost unreal silence and lack of colours it brings, one year after the other. Is this the main purpose of such a cover?

The building is our blacklodge, where the album was spawned in its final and complete form; it holds many olden vibrations in its rustic appearance. The album was created upon the onset of one of the longest winters in recollection, so it seemed appropriate: consider the silence of a landscape covered in snow. 

How did Till stilla falla tracks come to life? Has it been a long, complicated process or instead a very natural one? Especially after giving a listen to a long, amazing track like Aldrig Döden Minnas..., probably one of the best tracks to describe Stilla’s elegant and original style, it’s difficult not to think about how much time, energies and talent have probably been spent to create such a mind-blowing song…

The basic foundations of the songs were built by Pär Stille, elaborated upon by myself – the songs were practically finished once we entered the studio. Aldrig döden minnas... is probably the most worked-through piece on the album, its original version much different than the final outcome, wheras little has changed with the other tracks from their earliest versions.

Stilla’s debut album mixing and production is also something that immediately catches the listeners’ attention, since this full-length has really captured the atmosphere of the “good old times” of black metal, like it was recorded 15-20 years ago. Was this result what you were aiming for from the very beginning? 

Yes, it was our goal to create something timeless. Rather than hunting for a specific sound (like this or that album), we simply went for a good, raw and robust production.

Till stilla falla has, so far, received very positive reviews from all over Europe and beyond. Are you satisfied with what you’ve realized with this album, or has the band already started working on new ideas and materials?

We are surprised at the amount of attention we have received across Europe, and are much satisfied with how the album turned out; we entered the studio with an unfinished line-up and no clear idea of where it would end, and it became what it is today. We have new material, which will be recorded after the summer, aiming for a release at the depths of winter.

All lyrics in Till stilla falla have been written in Swedish by Pär and you. How would you describe them, to non-Swedish speakers? And, do you think that these two different ways of interpreting Stilla’s main lyrical themes have something in common, to share together?

They deal with various aspects of the same atmospheres and emotions: from nocturnal visions of graveyards and vast fields to being caught in the everlasting turning of the sunwheel and the ultimate end of everything. It is hard to pinpoint, but while they different, I would definitely say that the lyrics correlate to a spiritual, philosophical unity.

When it comes to describe Stilla, the only sentence used from the band to officially define itself so far has been “Svensk svartmetall. Fjällmagi & mörkerblick”. How would you explain this choice? And how would you describe Stilla, in a more detailed way?

I wouldn't – those words will do. Find a dictionary if you need to make sense of it.

Stilla’s frontman and drummer have already been co-members in two other Swedish bands, Whirling and De Arma. Has also the idea of a project like Stilla sprung from their talented minds or does this band have a different origin?

The project was initiated by Pär Stille and Andreas Vidhall, guitars and bass respectively. Me and Pär developed the songs for about a year before we entered the studio, and it was during the recording process that the current and final line-up was completed. Pär knew both Andreas Petterson and Johan Marklund (vocals and drums respectively) since before, and it was a natural choice to collaborate with them, and fold them into Stilla.

Recently you’ve made a cryptic announcement about the upcoming chance to see Stilla performing live on stage. Which are your plans for the future? 

Oh we'll see. Plans are being hatched and developed. First of all we will record a second LP in September, after that all is unknown. But it is not unlikely, if the opportunity arises, that we will perform live.

Our interview is now coming to its end. Do you have something else to add or something to say to our readers and Italian fans?

Leave your screens and friends behind, wander into the forests accompanied by Till stilla falla”and never return. 

Interview: Afenginn

Today our guest is Kim Rafael Nyberg, frontman of the Danish contemporary folk band Afenginn. This band is one of the heavy players in the European field of contemporary world/folk music. They are continuously seeking new borders and projects to push the limits of their music and are highly active on the live scene with numerous tours and performances in the past years, including a recent gig at Faroese G! festival.

Welcome, Kim! Let’s start from one of your latest performances, the gig at G! Festival with the Copenhagen based Faroese chorus Mpiri. How and when have you started working with this particular ensemble and why have you chosen Mpiri as a support for this gig? 

Thank you! The album Reptilica Polaris from 2008 featured (as a part of a bigger setup) a male-choir and back then we toured with a brassquartet and five singers to perform that. Already then we wanted to do some shows with a complete choir and now was the time to do that. We started the collaboration already last year, with preparations and meetings and stuff, and started rehearsing in May this year. We chose Mpiri because they are a high profiled choir with some good singers and has been doing cross-over projects before, which is an advantage.  

A couple of years after Bastard Etno, you have released a new album, called LUX. How would you describe it? Are you satisfied with what you’ve realized or has the band already started working on new ideas and materials?

LUX is a more calm and lyrical album than any of the others, and show Afenginn from a different and more cinematic view than before. We wanted to make an album that has the same kind of vibe throughout and I think we succeeded with that on LUX. We're really happy for the result (and the reviews are hugely positive as well) and we really enjoy playing concerts with that material. This being said, the progress to make something new, and probably quite different, is already rolling. 

Saying that your musical genre is contemporary folk is just an understatement, since your style offers to your fans a different and unusual experience in folk music. You label your own style as Bastard Etno: what does these particular terms really mean? How would you describe the music you create to someone who’s not given it a listen yet?

It's true that there are a lot of influences in our music and it seems to be very hard for everyone, including us, to describe it properly. It's a organic mix of the melodic melancholy of Scandinavian music, with the speed and odd meters of Balkan and Klezmer and the sophisticated, cinematic feel of classical music – to mention some...We've called it Bastard Etno in the meaning of ”illegitimate and sporadic mix of ethnic musical influences”

Another typical feature of Afenginn is the specific outfit that the band wears during every onstage performance, making its members look sorta like they’re coming from somewhere in the past. Why have you chosen to maintain it the same throughout all your gigs?

The ethos behind the dresscode is that we want to look good on stage, so no casual outfit as jeans and t-shirt and so on – it should be more like the dress you'd take on to a wedding or a big party or something. But within those limits, it's up to everyone how we want to interpret that. Most of us usually wear a three-piece set and a hat. It may looks as we come from the past, but it is a try to be properly dressed. There are some obligations when you get to go on stage and we want to pay some respect to the audience by dressing well.

Every release you’ve so far produced included a very colorful and clear cover, featuring work of art by illustrator Jakob Bendix. How would describe this experience and long working collaboration?

Jakob Bendix is an old, both personal and professional, friend of Afenginn and he's been onboard ever since the very first posters and demos and been doing (almost) all Afenginn artwork from then on. He has a great understanding of our music and has played a big part in creating the visual side of the band. He has a very clean style and always has good ideas and is a fantastic sparring partner when it comes to concepts and good to tell the story in the artwork. 

Time for one classic question: how does an Afenginn song come to life? Do the studies each one of you has completed in different musical academies in a way influence the way you create new music?

The music of Afenginn is coming to life through a fairly uncomplicated process that has seemed to work well for us. The music is composed and written down on scores by me (Kim) and we meet to play and rehearse the first ideas. Sometimes it's all pretty ready when we start, and sometimes it needs more work. In that case we talk about it and people throw in ideas for the compositions and I go back home and work it out from there. Then we all work on the dynamics and general feeling and it pretty much shapes up from there. All the musicians have different backgrounds and bring in their personal flavour to the melting pot, but after many years of playing we have a good collective vision of the music and mostly have a shared understandning of what to do.

From the very beginning of your career your tracks and albums have been characterized by very original titles. So, how these peculiar names come to life? Is there any particular reason behind these choices?

Most of the tunes has a small, and usually surreal, story connected to them and some of the titles come from there. The language of Afenginn is a homemade lingua called ”street latin”. It's a mixture of a whole bunch of languages (almost like esperanto) and the idea behind this is that it should be available for everyone with a little knowledge of the most common languages. And many of the titles have references to that....with a little humour in it as well.

You have stated that Afenginn is continuously seeking new borders and projects to push the limits of their music. So, which are the current plans for the band’s future?

There are many plans for the band's future, sometimes more than there is time actually. But right now we're having a couple of tracks from LUX being remixed and will be released through our webpage later this year. In January we'll go on tour in Australia, which we're really excited about as it's our first time there and we'll continue the tour in Germany right after that. During the spring and summer we're working on some more shows with the Choirnevale concert (with choir and marimba) and in June we're planning to release a mini-album with some dancable music. And we're working on a really cool project which includes food as well. These are some of the plans for 2014... 

Now our interview its coming to its end. Thanks for the precious time you’ve dedicated answering my questions. Do you want to add anything more?

Thank you so much. If you like what we do, you can find us online at Afenginn.com. Take care of yourself and follow your heart! 

Afenginn discography

Retrograd (2004)

Akrobakkus (2006)

Reptilica Polaris (2008)

Bastard Etno (2010)

LUX (2013)

More on Afenginn on their official website and Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp pages

All the photos in this article, courtesy of Afenginn

Afenginn + Mpiri live at G! Festival, photo courtesy of Ditte Mathilda Joensen

Interview: Eivør Pálsdóttir

Today I have as a guest Eivør Pálsdóttir, one of the most popular Faroese singers and songwriters, with a voice of rare beauty and power. From the age of fifteen she decided to dedicate her life entirely to music, and her roots in these remote and astonishingly beautiful islands have been the source of her musical inspiration ever since.

Today, she will tell something more about her music, art and personal inspiration..

Let’s start talking about your latest performance at Faroese G! festival. How does it feel, for you that have become an internationally well-known artist, to come back to your homeplace and play in front of your fellow Faroese people during one of the most important events of the summer?

It is always special to play at the G! festival. The festival takes place in my little hometown where I spent my childhood and teenage years. I always get a bit sentimental when I come back. I also get extra nervous because I know so many people in the crowd and I feel that they know me so well. I really loved playing at the festival this year and I still feel the rush from the warm welcome I got from the crowd this year. 

Moving to your latest release: the album Room is quite different from your second last production, 2010’s Larva. How has this album come to life? 

The songs on this album were all written in 2011. This was a very emotional year for me because I lost my father who was a very dear friend to me. I started writing the songs for the album in this period and they all come from a very fragile and lonely place, but at the same time they are filled with gratefulness and love. I ended up producing the album with my husband Tróndur Bogason. And we decided to record the album in the Faroe Islands. 

Speaking of, the recordings of Room have taken place in your home country, in a studio of Tórshavn. Why have you chosen the Studio Bloch and how’s this experience been? 

I have always recorded my albums abroad because I like studios with good equipment and big rooms. We never had that kind of studios in the Faroe Islands until just recently. My friend Jónas Bloch opened up the studio at the same time as I had finished the songs for the album so the timing was perfect. It was a special experience to record this album in my homeland. And – with these songs - it made more sense to me than ever to be “home” among good friends.

Two of the most catching songs of this album, True Love and Rain have also become respectively a short movie and a video. How would you describe these attempts to translate the power of your music into a visual concept? 

I like good music videos because they can either help you understand the meaning of the songs or even give you a completely new angle to understanding the song. It is tricky though, because it can also put things too much into boxes. 
So I am at the same time quite sensitive about the videos being made for my songs.

The video for True Love was directed by Heiðrik A Heygum. He asked me if he could use this song for a school project as the final exam. He wanted to make a short film based on the lyrics and also a music video out of the same material. Being a fan of his previous works I thought this was a brilliant idea.  I decided to give him a lot of free space to work on the visual ideas for the video and I like how he interpreted the song. 

We are editing the Rain video at the moment and I am very exited to see the final result.

Still on Room: why does the album not feature any song sung in a language different from English, with the only exception of the bonus track Eg Veit? 

I grew up listening to artists like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchel so there is something about the English language that resonates in me as well as the Faroese. My previous albums have been mainly in Faroese but my two latest ones are in English.

The bonus track Eg veit was written before the rest of the material on the album and I decided to translate it from Faroese to English and have both versions on the digital Room album.



Your breathtaking music and amazing voice leads to a quite obvious question: what does inspire you to create such works of art? 

Thank you for your kind words. Well I am inspired by a lot of artists and people that I have meet in my life. Some of the people that have made big impression on me are Yma Sumac, Nina Simone, Billy Holliday, Nick Drake and not to forget Leonard Cohen. And above all Nature inspires me over and over again and gives me the energy that I need. 

The Faroese label TUTL has also re-released one of the gems of your discography, Krákan, which was originally published in 2002. Which are the reasons that led you to release this album again? 

To make it short the album was sold out for a long time and after sorting out some record label issues we decided to re-release the album with a new cover made by the Faroese artist Edward Fuglø. I have been getting a lot of requests from people asking about this album so I am happy that it is available again.

This year you’ve already done several international gigs and, during this summer, you’re touring throughout different Scandinavian countries. Is there any chance to see you performing in other European countries soon? 

Well, I have a tour coming up in Germany this fall and I am very exited about that.  It will start in Hamburg (November, 15th), followed by Frankfurt (Nov, 17th), Berlin (Nov, 18th), Halle (Nov, 19th) and Flensburg (Nov, 20th).

You are one of the most well-known Faroese artists in the world and you’re now also working with one other Faroese band which has seen its popularity quickly growing in these last years. How would you describe your collaboration with the doom metal band Hamferð? 

I like the dark music that Hamferð creates. There is something very Faroese about it. Like me, they are inspired by Faroese folk ballads so we have something in common even though we are opposites. They asked me to sing on their track Sinniloysi and it think that our opposite sound scapes combined very well. Singing with Hamferð is like riding a big heavy wave in stormy weather. 

Now our interview its coming to its end. Thanks for the time you’ve dedicated answering my questions. Before you leave, could you describe your plans for the future? 

In two weeks I will travel to Victoria in Canada to participate in Gavin Bryars new opera called Marilyn Forever  based on aspects of the life of actress Marilyn Monroe. I will have the role of Marilyn. A very challenging and exciting project.

After that I will be touring Denmark with Eivør&Ginman after dark, a collaboration with bass player Lennart Ginman that I am very excited about. Then in November Room will be released in Germany and I will start my Germany release tour on Nov 15th in Hamburg. 

And hopefully new music will be born for 2014.

Eivør's discography:

Eivør Pálsdóttir (2000)
Krákan (2002)
Eivør (2004)
Trøllabundin (2005)
Mannabarn (2007)
Eivør Live (2009)
Undo your mind EP (2010)
Larva (2010)
Room (2012)

More on Eivør Pálsdóttir on her official website, Facebook and Youtube page

All the photos in this article, courtesy of Sigvør Laksá | Eivor.com