Gísli Gunnarsson (Iceland) – Andlitin í Berginu (single/future album track) + video

Perhaps it’s because I had an intense exposure to Iceland a few decades ago when I worked for Icelandair and the Tourist Board that I keep an eye out not only for music that emanates from there but also for the stories in it that reflect the peculiar and often zany nature of the place. And this is one of them.

I’ve often mentioned the Huldufólk, the ‘hidden people’ of Icelandic (and Faroese) folklore, a race of elves that live in nature, resembling humans and which are capable of making themselves invisible at will. They are believed to live in rocks and mounds, and their existence is deeply ingrained in the culture, a significant portion of Icelanders having a strong connection to this folklore, with some still actually believing in them and in the ‘trolls’ that are a bigger, dopier version.

One of those people (the ‘connection’ rather than the belief) is the Icelandic composer Gísli Gunnarsson who has just released his new single ‘Andlitin í Berginu’ (‘The Faces in the Rock’), which is his tribute specifically to the spirits and stone formations lost in the volcanic eruptions in recent years near the small fishing town of Grindavík on the Reykjanes peninsula.

I’ve been there many times and believe me that black, North Atlantic-swept peninsula is about as bleak as it gets. It makes Kate Bush’s “wiley windy moor” of ‘Wuthering Heights’ look like Rodeo Drive.

The song concerns two beloved rock formations he called the King and the Servant at a place called Þorbjörn, a mile or so south of the Blue Lagoon tourist site for those that know it, mourning their collapse during the earthquakes that accompanied the eruptions. Gísli, who was forced to evacuate his home in Grindavík due to the continuing volcanic activity, describes the loss unsurprisingly as deeply personal.

He felt like he’d lost something sacred so he wrote ’Andlitin í Berginu’ from their perspective, like their final moments and thoughts, their voices echoing through the rock.

There’s often something moody and melodramatic about Icelandic music irrespective of the genre and this is no exception as he subtly conveys the building tension, the potential energy of the earthquakes, through a series of simple guitar riffs before the climactic unleashing of their power begins – the kinetic energy – and the downfall of the formations, marked by dominant thunderous drums, and leading into an explosive guitar and synthesiser outro.

There’s a fascinating video to go with it that you have to watch, featuring a dancer who body represents the landscape, her skin contrasted with the lichen and moss that covers the lava in Iceland and which give much of the country that strange faded pastel green colour. Except that it’s all in black and white, just to keep you guessing.

If you look carefully you can see outlines of bodies and faces in the lava. Or is it just your imagination?

Then she stretches and gyrates her body just as the subterranean topography does. There’s a moment when she clutches her stomach in the manner of John Hurt in Alien before the infant creature explodes out of it and you know the eruption is imminent.

When it arrives her interpretation is dramatic, the upheavals of the earth reflected in each dynamic twist and turn, her flailing hair representative perhaps of cascading lava until she finally collapses into the conflagration.

It’s all very arty without ever coming anywhere close to pretentious.

The track is the second from Gisli’s forthcoming album, ‘Úr Öskunni’, out November 7^th via the Norwegian label By Norse Music.

‘Úr Öskunni’, which translates as ‘From the Ashes,’ is a deeply personal work born out of destruction. The emotional weight of the evacuation, the loss of home, and the psychological toll of this period became the canvas of the new full-length album.

To mark the release, Gísli will perform a free concert on November 8^th in collaboration with Iceland Airwaves, held at the church in the evacuated town of Grindavík.

Find him on:

Website: https://www.gisligunnarsson.com/