Snorri Gunnarsson is a regular visitor here, either in his solo project The Sweet Parade or as a member and guitar player for Fjöll, which is the guise in which he turns up tonight.
‘Waves’ is the second track to be released from Fjöll’s forthcoming album, which is due early next year and which has been recorded over the course of the last year in Valencia.
The song “explores the connections we share with one another as we navigate the turbulent waters of life. We ride the waves through the ups and downs, and even when we lose our way, there is always someone to help us find our course again,” they say.
Well fair enough, I think that is a given in most human societies. But it occurs to me there is something a little deeper in this song. Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that even though they now number 400,000 or so there is something inherently close knit about Icelandic society. That was my observation when I used to travel there frequently.
Far, far more so than you would find in the UK, where you’re lucky even to know your neighbours these days, and probably more so than in the other Nordic countries too except for Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say they all know each other but most people are probably on first name terms with thousands of others and mutual self help is in evidence everywhere.
And that depth of meaning is equally evident in the lyrics, which I’ll record in full here.
“You caught me hidin’/hiding my head away
caught me goin down/You caught me singing
singing a minor chord/like a funeral
caught me gazin’/at the the open sky
caught me feelin’ hope
You know we share/the same heart
bound in blood/you and i
We often share/the same hopes
ride the same wave in life
We sometimes linger/sometimes fade away
when we should stay
We sometimes stray
but we stand by
our loved ones”
It’s almost like a truncated Saga with the characters taken away, or a call to arms, as if Air Force One had just been observed at Keflavik Airport along with Rubio, Hegseth, Witkoff and Kushner, all intent on doing a ‘deal’ to extricate all the thermal power and leave the country to freeze.
Musically it’s a slow burner, acoustic instruments dominating until a sweet guitar solo towards the end and always with a memorable four note motif accompanying it throughout.
Tasty.
Fjöll consists of:
Guðmundur Annas Árnason – vocals, keyboards and harmonica
Snorri Gunnarsson – guitar and vocals
Guðmundur Freyr Jónasson – guitar
Kristinn Jón Arnarson – bass
Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson – drums.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hljomsveitinfjoll
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fjollmusic/
