Photo by Marsý Hild
Never argue with Iceland, its beautiful landscape and the rich musical culture. NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION surely doesn’t – and how could we with such beautfiul bands like RÖKKURRÓ that once again show us why we love this little island so much. Helga plays keyboard in RÖKKURRÓ and we’re happy to have her sharing seven of her favourites with us. And she even came up with a special theme for her selection.
“These are 7 songs from my adolescence, around 13-16 years old. At that time I was breaking away from what my parents and older brothers had been feeding me, figuring out what I actually liked myself. At that age you are so thirsty for new things and shaping your palate, so it is interesting to take a look back and check if you see a pattern. These songs have stuck with me ever since adolescence and you can definitely see how they influence the music I write today, including the new stuff with RÖKKURRÓ!”
01. PIXIES – “Bone Machine”
This song is so raw and amazing! I am fairly sure that I stole the PIXIES compilation album from my oldest brother or a friend of his. I still have it somewhere, and I’m not giving it back!
02. NORAH JONES – “Seven Years”
This song has everything I love to incorporate in a song; interesting chord progression, catchy melody and leaves you wanting more. It is one of those tracks I cannot help but listen to twice every single time it comes on.
03. NINE INCH NAILS – “Something I Can Never Have”
I first heard this track in the movie Natural Born Killers and all I thought was “It’s over, no one can ever write a song better than this one!” I may have been a tormented teenager. But I still maintain that everybody should listen to the album Pretty Hate Machine, it is a masterpiece.
04. TOOL – “Lateralus”
In the summer 2003 I was singing soprano in a large production of Mozart’s Coronation Mass along with my mum, and as we set off for the hour drive home from practice I popped on my headphones and started this track. My mum still recalls it regularly. At that moment I realised I wasn’t going to pick or exclude any genre of music. It’s all good.
05. SIGUR RÓS – “Starálfur”
This is maybe not a surprise from an Icelandic musician, but my group of friends when I was a teenager did not think SIGUR RÓS were cool at all. I was so ashamed that I wanted to buy this album that I snuck off while on a school trip to buy it, told no one and listened to it in secret for weeks!
06. TORI AMOS – “Silent All These Years”
Miss Amos is one tough cookie. Her piano playing is so inspired and her lyrics, once I actually started paying attention to them, are so real and evocative. I love her! I once performed this song in a song contest at school when I was about 17 years old and it has held a special place with me since then. I didn’t win though. ;)
07. FOO FIGHTERS – “Everlong (Acoustic)”
I remember watching this song download over the course of a whole evening on my mother’s extremely slow 56kbit/s dial up connection. Pure torture. It was some sort of a bootlegged version that I have not been able to find again since, but very similar to this one. And totally worth the wait!
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