It is quite a while now since INKI (Ingibjörg Friðriksdóttir) put in an appearance here; an erudite lady who knows how to construct a thoughtful, sometimes questioning song without the drama that often goes with it.
This particular single, ‘Islander’ is the first one from her album ‘Locally Grown’ and will be premiered at Iceland Airwaves this year, which takes place in November, along with best examples of potatoes from Laxness Farm, bananas from the Hveragerði greenhouses, and a prize cabbage from Hafnarfjörður.
The story behind the song is that earlier this year she took a trip with some visiting travel journalists as part of her ‘other’ job, marketing for a resort in South Iceland. As someone that often took journalists around Iceland as well once I must have a chat with her about it sometime. But I digress.
Talking to the journalists, they concurred that people from islands often feel the need to return home after moving abroad. Statistics for Iceland prove the point – Icelanders who emigrate have a very high return rate, around 80%. I suppose it’s also true of Ireland; they are coming and going all the time there.
She surmises that perhaps it’s the horizontal rain hitting you in the face like a punch from Mike Tyson that they can’t live without. I reckon I experienced enough of that at Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall to make me invest in a cast iron solid one way ticket to New Zealand, where they also have geysers of course but it’s a bit warmer.
(And all this reminds me that I often ask Nordic artists in interviews whether they would like to live and work abroad as all those countries have small populations and appropriately limited opportunities. I suspect Inki will be next).
Or perhaps it is just the magic of a place, and there is plenty of that to found there even today with ghost stories still commonplace, and a lingering belief in some quarters in elves, trolls and the supernatural Huldufólk, some of whom escaped and managed to make it into the British government.
And hence the song title, ‘Islander’, which literally translates as Icelander, Island being the name of the country in the local dialect. But you knew that.
And as a side issue ‘Islander’ also touches on our wish to predict the future, and how the unknown is what makes life most exciting.
Her lyrics to express that sentiment are just wonderful:
“Paid a psychic, and all she said,
‘Stop looking 25 years ahead’
I hate being unsure
of where life is going
if there’s one thing that is worse
then that would be knowing”.
I don’t know about you but that reads like a piece of poetry to me; a limerick. Who else is doing that?
Musically, it’s a fairy tale by synthesiser and strings, a smart and serious yet also frivolous piece in the way that it gently exposes the ‘grass is always greener’ cult for what it is: mere daydreaming.
So, back to Smallville, Superman.
Ok, that’s all folks. To paraphrase Inki’s lyrics, ‘My journey ends here, he says through his beer glass.’
Actually it doesn’t, because there’s a little bonus. The very first time I came across Inki I remarked that if she can replicate her recorded work live it should be pretty spectacular to listen to/watch. But I’d never seen a live show until last night, when I found a compilation video of four songs from December 2024.
And here it is. Introducing a hybrid lady with a live performance made out of parts of Loreen (without the aerobics), Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Shirley Bassey.
Is this one of the leading songwriters in Iceland I hear you say? Is the Pope Catholic? Is Wrestling fixed?
Enjoy.
Musicians for ‘Islander’ –
Music Production + Songwriting: Inki and PALMR (Robin Pearkes)
Lyrics: Inki + Nathan Lambart
Viola + Violin: Karl James Pestka
Cello: Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir
String + Voice Recordings: Studio Bókó by Inki
Mixing: Tim Rowkins
Mastering: Robin Schmidt.
Find her on:
Website: www.inkimusic.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inki.music/
Bandcamp: https://inki.bandcamp.com/
