Believe it or not – a lot of time in the life of a rockstar is not spent on making out with groupies or drinking expensive champagne. Travelling is an important aspect as well. May it be vans, busses, planes or just public transport. While we’re pretty sure that Icelandic electropop band SAMARIS are not directly fans of groupies and hotel room destruction we figured out that travelling might mean a lot for them two. Only last year the trio released it’s shiny selft-titled debut album. Now, the follow-up Silkidrangar is about to get released on May the 9th. Once again, eclectic electronica teams up with the gentle voice of singer Jófríður Ákadóttir to create something almost mystical. After all, we’re talking about Iceland here, the place where even pop music sounds like a fairy tale sometimes. The musician on her song choice for NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION:
I have been traveling now for about 3 weeks, playing, doing interviews, visiting friends and sitting in the sun. I was inspired to put together my seven favorite songs to listen to whilst going between those places, in dark busses on the way to the airport, in overly bright London underground services or just walking in a nice city.’
Find SAMARIS‘ seven songs for transportation right here on the following pages. An interesting mixture of well-known artists and music you should definitely discover.
01. GROUNDISLAVA – ‘Creeper Shit’
This song started traveling with me in 2011 when SAMARIS played abroad for the first time. We went to france, all the way down south in mid summer, with sun in our hearts and burning our skin we listened to this on repeat.
02. BELONG – ‘I never lose, never really’
This song was sent to me by the cloud, it’s some kind of a destiny song, good for finding the next destination.
03. ARTHUR RUSSELL – ‘Little Lost ‘
The title’s a bit ironic for traveling music, but this song is incredible. ARTHUR RUSSELL wasn’t a professional cello player so he plays it in a very raw manner unlike anything you’re used to.
04. APPARAT ft. SOAP&SKIN – ‘Goodbye’
This one is good for a dramatic goodbye. Listening to this on the way home.
05. MOLLY NILSSON – ‘Hey Moon’
It’s my favorite lonely song, like all of MOLLY’s songs they’re filled with humour. For some reason I thought MOLLY NILSSON wasn’t alive so when I found out she is I made a vow to myself that I go see her live someday.
06. SEAPONY – ‘What You See’
I made an edit of this song, where I cut out the first beat off so it’s seven beats in the intro instead of eight. Then the song begins just a second before you are ready for it and I always get extra happy, even though i know very well it’s going to happen. I can always always always listen to this song whatever mood, place or situation I find myself in. It’s golden.
07. VASHTI BUNYAN & ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – ‘Prospect Hummer’
This one is for my twin sister Ásthildur who lives in Amsterdam. It’s the first year we spend more than two weeks apart from each other but we’re lucky that we both travel a lot, so we can meet in the middle. She showed me this song last week and we listened to it while we were cooking.
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