- country:Iceland
- style(s):Folk, Contemporary
- label:Nivalis ehf (Iceland), Beste!Unterhaltung (Germany)
- type:Band, Quartet, Quintet, Chamber Orchestra
- gender:male
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal, a cappella, electronic, string, singer songwriter, rock band, pop group, piano, guitar
- artist posted by:Árstíðir
Line up
- Daníel Auðunsson (acoustic guitar, vocals)
- Gunnar Már Jakobsson (baritone-guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals)
- Karl James Pestka (Violin, viola, electronics, vocals)
- Ragnar Ólafsson (piano, vocals)
Links
Not many bands can lay claim to the kind of dramatic career development that the Icelandic band Árstíðir can. Formed in the wake of the 2008 stock market crash, they found themselves catapulted to the top of the Icelandic music charts within six months of their debut, and then forged ahead with their 2010 tour despite a volcanic eruption that stalled global travel.
The first Icelandic band to ever win the Eiserner Eversteiner European Folk Music Award, they became a YouTube phenomenon after a friend recorded an impromptu performance of “Heyr himna smiður” in the Bürger Bahnhof train station in Wuppertal. Their May 2014 Kickstarter campaign raised $70,000 (substantially exceeding the initial $20,000 goal) to finance their third album, Hvel (Spheres). Once fully funded, the band took up residence and composed the album’s songs in Toppstödin, an abandoned coal-fired power plant repurposed as a creative space, with the encouragement of their friend and producer Styrmir Hauksson (Ásgeir, Of Monsters and Men, GusGus). They then moved down the road and recorded Hvel at the studio Orgelsmiðjan, home to many of Iceland’s renowned recording artists (Of Monsters and Men and John Grant). The result is a collection of songs which weave both traditional and electronically-inspired instrumental threads together with soaring vocal harmonies, and that critics have described as “beautiful and atmospheric” and “utterly mesmerizing.”
Árstíðir looks forward to performing their newest compositions and forming new intimate musical connections with both seasoned supporters and green listeners. With their sweeping vocal harmonies backed by lushly layered orchestral instrumental arrangements, Árstíðir sings, “Not every thing you feel can be seen but the feeling lasts so long” and hopes that what the audience feels will linger long after the last note is played.