Eivør Pálsdóttir, an artist from the Faroe Islands in a village of only 400 people, is making big waves with her music.
If you’re unfamiliar with her work, her music has been featured in Netflix’s hit series The Last Kingdom and the video game God of War: Ragnarok.
She’s now working on a new solo album set to release this June, ENN. This album features lyrics in Faroese and complex, layered ethereal melodies.
With her upcoming album, a European tour, and just releasing a single, she already has a busy year in 2024. She took some time to answer our questions. Read below for more!
SideStage Magazine: With your latest single, how are you able to get that ethereal, fantastical sound?
And are you the only musician creating this complex sound?
Eivor: This track was born from a late-night vocal improvisation over a drone which I had
sampled. And then later I brought in the beat and piano pattern which then kind of
became another layer/dimension to the song. I like to play around with textures,
contrasts and parallel sonic universes when it comes to writing my songs, and I
guess Jarðartrá is a quite good example of that. It has that classical/renaissance-sounding element to it, combined with a heavy electronic and dark beat.
I had a demo sketch of this track which I then collaborated further on with co-
producer Tróndur Boganson and we did some recordings with the band in the studio
as well to bring in the hand-played elements and warmth to the track.
So I guess the fundamental ideas start in my own bubble and then I like to bring it
outside my own bubble and to collaborate with other creative minds later in the
process.
How were you able to use your inspiration of nature to translate through music to
feel those elements?
That’s an interesting question.
Growing up so close to nature, I think nature is the main source of inspiration for me
in everything I create. It’s some sort of sonic inner landscape. The powerful contrasts
that nature holds has all the elements and emotions that I automatically search for
when I write music. The dark and the light, the roughness and the softness and the
endless circle of decay and growth. All these big emotions that we often can’t even
put into words are the things that inspire me the most. And to me nature has room
for all these feelings and so does music.
When you recorded vocals, what about that abandoned school captured that
feeling you were going for? Was it the acoustics? Was it something spiritual?
I think it was probably a combination of the place and my mindset at the time that
captured the feeling for this song.
I had decided to go to this place Tjørnuvík, which is a very tiny village in The Faroe
Islands, very far away from everything. It´s a village by the sea surrounded by
mountains and at night when it’s dark and dead quiet, you get this mixed feeling of
being trapped so far away from the world, and yet so close to nature you get this
feeling of being part of the whole universe. So I think you could say that it was
something spiritual in a way.
Can you go into your creative process when you’re composing and building your
songs?
The process can be very different from song to song. But when I write music and
especially when I start an idea I try to write as freely as possible without judgement or
too specific direction at first. The key to me is to capture something that evokes my
curiosity or something that takes my mind somewhere I haven’t been before.
Then later I like to come back to my ideas and sketches and some of them survive.
Then comes the process of sculpting and building the ideas into songs.
What goes into all your album and single art? I really love your use of color and
light painting and it compliments the sound well when I press play on your music.
That’s lovely to hear. I think of music a lot like painting – colors and textures, and I
like to bring those colors and textures into my artworks and videos. It all goes hand
in hand I guess.
While you’re preparing for your tour, what else does 2024 have in store for you?
I am quite excited about this year and it will be a busy one
My album will be out in June, and I am playing a lot of festivals this year which I
haven´t played before. I am doing a few shows with Symphony Orchestras as well
and then my big release tour in the fall. I love creating music, but I love sharing
music live with my fans, so I can’t wait to be on the road again
Eivor teased that US fans should keep an eye out for some news they’ll be happy to hear.
