Ásgeir

Ásgeir is a singer-songwriter from Iceland. With the release last September of ‘Dyrd i daudathogn’, at just 20 years of age Icelandic singer- songwriter Ásgeir has become something of an overnight sensation in his country’s music scene - breaking all records to become Iceland’s fastest selling debut album by a domestic artist. That was reinstated at the Iceland Music Awards that took place on February 20th, Asgeir making an impressive sweep of the board, picking up Best Pop/Rock Album, Best Newcomer, Icelandicmusic.com Award for online achievement and the Public Choice Award. Produced by Gudmundur Kristinn Jonsson, Dyrd í dauðathogn (‘In the Silence’) immediately recalls the heavenly vocals of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and light electronic touch of British glitch pop sensation James Blake. In Iceland, the unusual poetry of lyrics have attracted almost as much attention as the music itself, in part because they are mostly written by Ásgeir’s 72 year old father. The songs themselves, however, are all Ásgeir: light and airy, inset with his distinctive melancholic voice their vibrancy elevates their appeal way beyond the folktronica tag. One such fan of Dyrd i daudathogn was John Grant (‘Queen Of Denmark’) – currently resident of Iceland himself – who has collaborated with Ásgeir to create an English language version, 'In The Silence', which is out now.