Whoever thought Scandinavian artists only offer minimal melancholic music, will probably rethink this assumption after listening to Hermigervill. Sveinbjörn Thorarensen is the young Icelandic mind that is behind this soft trippy music initiative. He has been composing, playing and mixing for many years already, under many different projects and bands. This one is a child of his own, just like it stimulates you to release the inner child in you and dream without boundaries.
The Hermigervill sound is a milkshake with an unknown recipe. Sweet trippy beats, deep sounds that remind me of a modern electronic jazz bar (if that even exists?), a drum and bass influence, sophisticated combinations in a variety of music instruments and styles. It requires more synonyms than that to describe the music, but I guess you just have to listen to it and probably dance to it as well. It works perfect as the ideal dreaming-while-dancing music, just like it can be an up-tempo background for your inspirational day of working. And I would even say that if you are practicing to run a marathon, some Hermigervill sounds in your headphones for your free-run in the woods are definitely recommended.
At least that is how I interpret it. Just click on the links and enjoy these not-so-melancholic icelandic daydream head. I am always quite interested though in what goes on in the mind of a musician. One of my super inspiring friends is Hermigervill’s love. She told me he sleeps in the daytime and is an owl at night, working and making music till the sun goes up. Let’s have a look at what happens when he glows in the dark.
What was your dream when you were a child and did it come true already?
I wanted to become an architect/city planner, and probably would have become one, had I not sidestepped intothe field of music. I‘m still deeply interested in city planning. You could say that it‘s my hobby of sorts, I read magazines and blogs about it, and have often considered putting my own ideas and opinions on paper.
Did it influence your music, the way you were brought up in Iceland?
Yes and no. Of course everyone is influenced by the music one hears during childhood, which happens in my case to be a lot of Icelandic music. My last two records were a sort of homage to old 60‘s and 70‘s music from there. Of course, the music in Iceland of those decades was directly inspired by British and American pop music, which itself descends directly from Africa, so one has to ask where the influence comes from actually.
Are you inspired by people who became quite famous, like Sigur Ros, even if it’s not noticeable instantly in your music?
Yes, I am inspired by all people who get far without compromising their art.
What does a regular day look like to you? I’ve heard you have weeks where you live and work at night?
I don‘t really have anything called a „regular day“ unfortunately. I have been touring a lot, which becomes sort of a routine in itself, and in between the touring I have intensely long sessions at my studio, sometimes 12 hours or more, non-stop. Then I remember that I have to eat, so I go home. It might me morning, it might be daytime or the middle of the night. It‘s completely random.
Where is your mind traveling to when you are traveling all around the world to perform?
I just let my mind wonder, I guess. Dream up future plans, imagine some music compositions which will inevitably never come to existence.
Do you experience a lot of culture shocks or does it stimulate your wanderlust to play all over the world for a living?
No, I actually prefer staying at home, in my safe zone. Traveling to distant places has never really appealed to me so much. I do travel a lot for my music, but mostly within Europe and America, which suits me fine.
Does your music feel like escapism?
No, I wish it was, but it is too real to me to become an escape. Everything in my life revolves around music and sound, and I don‘t use it to escape anything else. If anything, it‘s the other way around – I sometimes need to escape my music. The only way I have found to do so is by sleeping.
What is the ideal setting for people to hear and discover your music?
The future. I always imagine someone, 30 years from now, finding my stuff in a dusty box and thinking „what the hell was this all about?“. Actually I always imagine how my stuff will sound in retrospect. Maybe deep down I want to be unappreciated in my time, but discovered as a kind of genious after my death. Yes, it‘s fun to be narcissistic.
And what would be the ideal setting for you to play for people?
Maybe I would like to have a radio show, which in today‘s world probably means having a podcast. There I could blather on about my thoughts and about my own music and about music I find interesting.
NEW SONG: HARLEM REYKJAVIK
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