We seem to be going through an Icelandic season just now with several releases coming at the same time and I’m always pleased to receive a communication from Soffía, who regular readers will know is heading towards her new and third full length album, again working with Pétur Ben, a seasoned collaborator over the years.
The previous single from that album, ‘Redwing’, seemed to mark a turning point of some sort; a softer, gentler song with none of the uncertainty and edginess that populated much of her material prior to it and a positive vibe emanating from it throughout. It even prompted me to think that there might have been a material change in her personal circumstances for the better.
‘Dreamcatcher’ though is a return to form musically, a dark, moody piece full of compelling, even disturbing bass lines from Fríða Dís – another regular collaborator (both ways) – ominous percussion from Magnús Trygvason Eliassen, half-spoken lyrics and dramatic synthesised interventions that suggest the hand of Pétur Ben.
The sort of thing that belongs in the Icelandic Nordic Noir TV dramas that the country doesn’t make enough of and one of which it would fit well into (hint).
Lyrically, it is open to interpretation, which is my excuse for saying I might have got this badly wrong!
Briefly, it appears to be a gothic coming of age story in which the singer finds red hot, unadulterated love for the first time, as if Heathcliffe had been directed by a guardian angel off the wiley, windy moors and straight to Cathy’s door, which he duly smashed in and had his way with her.
Not that she was complaining, mind.
“Heaven and Earth came together; I wish I could stay forever…and ever…”
But to explain my ‘interpretation’ remark, there are a few lines that I can’t shake off.
For example, “It was you that took away my innocence”. It probably is a, well, perfectly innocent one. Perhaps she was inexperienced, even a virgin and this her first time.
But it also oddly brings to mind Fiona Apple’s “But he washed me ashore, and he took my pearl, and left an empty shell of me” on ‘Sullen Girl’; probably the most poignant lines ever written about a sexual assault.
Then there is:
“I love my feminine side, what a ride it has been to get to myself/True feeling of power and pleasure, alright, alright”.
Does that mean the feminine side was always there and it just took that ‘ride’ to find it? Or that some other ‘side’ predominated previously?
And what do we make of the ‘Dreamcatcher’ here? I’m assuming it is a reference to the Native Indian cultural charm that ‘traps’ bad dreams and nightmares in its web, allowing good dreams to pass through to the sleeper.
So is it really all just a dream anyway, and will Heathcliffe only ever be manifested as an apparition? Will the wait for the real one have to continue, nanananananana?
For the last seven or eight years I’ve been saying that Soffía is a terrific songwriter just waiting to be discovered outside of Iceland. This album will be the one, I’m certain if it.
The band:
Soffía Björg – vocals, guitar
Fríða Dís – bass guitar
Magnús Trygvason Eliassen – drums
Pétur Ben – Producer
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