CLASS

24
THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE ICELAND AIRWAVES SPECIAL
Auður Is What
Happens When You
Combine Hip, Pretty
Girls With Modern
Music-Making Software
And, it’s pretty great
INTERVIEW BY DAVÍÐ ROACH
In less than a month, Auður, aka Auðunn Lúthersson, will
make his stage debut at Iceland Airwaves. Auður made his
print media debut in this very issue, which also marks his debut
appearance on a magazine cover. Auður has yet to release a
single song, or play a single show. And yet, here we are.
Arriving to interview a musician I’ve
never heard of, I feel stupid and out
of touch. We start talking, and I’m
relieved to learn that my Auður ignorance
is absolutely justified. How
could I—or anyone for that matter—
possibly have heard of Auður? He has
never played a show, or released so
much as a demo. He has no Soundcloud
account, no YouTube channel, and no
social media presence—he doesn’t
even own a smartphone. Why is this
guy even being featured, I wonder.
Auður plays me a song that just
came back from mastering. Curious
and frustrated, I listen intently, and
almost immediately understand why
Auður is slated to make his stage debut
at a coveted Iceland Airwaves slot,
why he’s on the cover of this magazine,
and why I’m about to interview him.
Because, it’s great. That Auður, he’s
great.
The song is called “Both Eyes On
You.” It is ultra-current, featuring a
gripping R&B melody that elegantly
cuts through the immaculately produced
soundscape, all dark and velvety
smooth. Auður croons over it all, in a
voice that’s simultaneously commanding
and vulnerable. The sound is professional,
slick and international—as if
it’s been honed through years of experience
and development.
Sinking into the melody, I find it
hard to fathom that this music could
be the product of the lanky 22-year-old
who’s standing in front of me.
I quickly come up with some questions.
Something right
So, who is this Auður?
Auður is my artist name, it’s the name
of the project I’m going forward with
and will be premiering at Airwaves. It’s
modern music, it’s 2016 music, and I’m
immensely excited to launch it into the
world!
You haven’t released a song, nor
played a concert before—how
come you’re occupying one of Iceland
Airwaves’s coveted slots?
A buzz has been building around my
music recently, since I began playing
it to a select group of people, some of
whom are in the music business. Also,
getting admitted into the Red Bull Music
Academy helped me a lot. When
people in Berlin and Paris pay attention
to your work, you’re doing something
right.
Wait a minute. What’s the Red
Bull Music Academy, how did you
get into it, and what does it mean
for your career?
It’s a music academy that’s sponsored
by Red Bull. Earlier this year, I sent
in an application—along with about
5,000 other artists—and was fortunate
enough to be one of the twenty that
were admitted. Right after Airwaves,
I’ll be spending two weeks in Paris,
composing music with fellow students,
working on my own stuff and performing
at some very hip venues. [Some later
Googling informs me that the academy’s
alumni includes folks like cosmic
electro wizard Flying Lotus, superstar
DJ Nina Kravitz, maximalist producer
Hudson Mohawke and soul singer extraordinaire
Aloe Blacc.]
James Blake
changed my life!
What’s your background in
music?
I come from a hardcore/noise-rock background,
and have played with bands like
In The Company Of Men. I also studied
advanced jazz guitar at FÍH [the prestigious
Musicians’ Union’s music school].
How come you abandoned hardcore
and jazz guitar for modern
R&B?
I think it’s somewhat related to a realization
I had while in MR college. After
a while, it dawned on me that all the hip,
cute girls in my class were listening to
all this cool electronic music. As a result,
I decided to attend Sónar 2013, where
came across a few artists that really
opened my eyes. James Blake, especially,
was a huge inspiration. His set at Sónar
changed my life.
Playing in rock bands, I was constantly
arranging for the others, setting
notes up in a computer programme to
map out all the different instruments.
That aroused the perfectionist in me, and
made me want to gain total control over
every instrument.
So, yeah. The infinite possibilities
granted by modern music software, combined
with the influence of hip, pretty
girls, put me on this path that I’m on, and
ultimately led me to make the kind of music
you’ll be hearing from Auður.
Young&Fresh
You’ve recently produced the
song “Strákarnir okkar” (“Our
Boys”) for rapper Emmsjé Gauti.
Is that something your looking to
do more of?
Definitely. I made two other songs with
Emmsjé, which will probably appear on
his next album. I’ve also done production
work for a few other artists, although I
can’t quite drop any names just yet.
Which rappers would you say
are your dream collaborators,
Icelandic and international?
I just spoke with [other cover star] GKR
earlier today, and we talked about working
together. I’m very excited about that—
he’s young and fresh, and I like to believe
that I’m young and fresh, too. Something
great could come out of that. For foreign
rappers, it’s Ty Dolla $ign—he’s got a
smooth and melodic flow, and his hair
looks great.
A scene seems to be blossoming,
here and abroad, that’s equal
parts masculine and feminine
in terms of both lyrical content
and execution. You could call it
something like “nu R&B malewave,”
and place artists like
Drake, Frank Ocean and Weeknd
under that banner—with guys
like Sturla Atlas and Uni Stefson
representing on the Iceland
front. Does this ring true to you?
And, if so, do you identify with
that wave?
In some ways, yes. I find it interesting that
you describe it as simultaneously masculine
and feminine, because that’s actually
the whole point of my artist name, Auður
[an Icelandic female name]. My real name
is Auðunn, a male name that should be a
female one, but I assume a female name
that really should be a male name [in Icelandic,
the ending -ur is usually reserved
for male names, and the ending -unn is
generally a female one].
I do look up to many of the artists you
named, and I can see how my music could
be considered part of that scene. However,
I also like to think that I have my own
unique voice.
The Börn Guide To
The Cheapskate’s
Airwaves
WORDS BY
FANNAR ÖRN KARLSSON
OK, so you've spent most of your money
on studs, glue, Rudimentary Peni reissues
(those don't go for punk prices,
do they?) and renewing your MRR subscription.
But, yikes! Iceland Airwaves
is coming up, and you can't afford a
ticket. Yet, you find yourself stuck in
shitty Reykjavik, with some extremely
limited options. Now, personally, I’d
advise you to just stay at home, order
in some pizza and listen to Discharge's
'Realities Of War' over and over. But,
then, you're maybe one of those types
of people who enjoys going out. To
each his own, I guess.
Anyway, being flat broke and ticketless
shouldn't stop you from having a
fine time at Airwaves if you absolutely
insist on leaving your apartment. As always,
Airwaves week means every little
mitten shop in downtown Reykjavík will
try its hand at hosting an off-venue programme,
and those shows are always
totally free to enjoy, and often pretty
great. I haven't really come across an
off-venue schedule yet, but I'm guessing
you'll be able to catch most of the
best local bands in some shape or
form, playing for free at one crappy bar
or another.
I do know, however, that the local
Girls Rock camp is curating the
off-venue schedule at Loft Hostel on
Thursday, November 5. So, that should
be good. Go there. Also, local weirdos
Ronja Records are staging a show at
Lucky Records on Sunday, November,
8. Þórir Georg will be playing, along with
Kvöl, Börn, Antimony and I think maybe
Döpur. At least I hope Döpur will play. I
love that band.
But maybe you don't give a fuck
about local bands. None of them are
gonna do Millions of Dead Cops covers,
so who cares, right? Well, if you'd like to
see a bunch of badass women on roller
skates crushing each other, you could
take the bus into Pink Street Boys'
turf (a.k.a. Kópavogur) on Saturday,
November 7, where local roller derby
heroes Ragnarök will go head-to-head
with the Brighton Rockers. Follow Roller
Derby Iceland on Facebook for more
info.
You could also start an amazing
hardcore band with your friends, find
some weird spot where you can stage a
show called "Fokk Airwaves” or something,
and call out all of us poseurs for
playing the festival in between songs. I'd
like to say that I'd show up for that but,
to be honest, I'll probably be at home,
eating pizza, listening to Discharge.