Faroese folk electronica artist Eivør releases a music video and new live version of ‘Gulspunnin’, lifted from her latest album ‘Segl’, out now. Produced by Lana Del Rey collaborator Dan Heath, ‘Gulspunnin’ is Copenhagen-based Eivør’s love letter to her childhood home on the remote Faroe Islands. ‘Segl’ – featuring appearances from Ásgeir and Einar Selvik of Wardruna – is the follow-up to Eivør’s widely-praised 2017 UK commercial debut, ‘Slør’, which triggered her debut on Later….With Jools Holland. Eivør soundtracked the latest series of Netflix/BBC flagship The Last Kingdom, and her music has previously been synched on Homeland & Game Of Thrones. The new video for ‘Gulspunnin’ is now streaming from here, with a new live version of the track also included on DSPs here.
With a title that translates from Faroese as ‘cocooned in gold’, the lyrics for ‘Gulspunnin’ were created as a poem written by Faroese poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs. Speaking about the track – which arrived alongside a music video directed by Icelandic visual artist Anna Maggy – Eivør says; The main inspiration behind ‘Gullspunnin’ came from a certain feeling I often get when I am back at home on the Faroe Islands. There is something intriguing about the light and foggy landscapes that creates some sort of nostalgic in between state of happiness and sadness – a longing for something intangible. I wanted to reflect this feeling and a certain timeless state of mind in this song. The poem written by Marjun tells a story about the soul, forever travelling alone but cocooned in shimmering gold. I have been fascinated by Anna Maggy for quite some time. In her work I could sense this same mood that I was in when I created the song. For me she really gave ‘Gullspunnin’ a visual home. It was a very deep and empowering experience to create this piece alongside these amazingly talented women.
Eivør is an artist perfectly attuned to the savage vicissitudes of nature. Born & raised in Syðrugøta, a tiny community of just over 400 people on one of the northerly Faroe Islands, Eivør grew up surrounded by the windswept landscape of the North Atlantic, a backdrop that has deeply influenced the elemental electronica she creates. ‘Segl’ – Eivør’s ninth album, since releasing her debut at just 17 – builds on these motifs, exploring the journeys we undertake, both metaphorically and physically. The title – meaning ‘sail’ in Faroese – alludes to our desire for growth and direction, and the role of fate.
Eivør immersed herself in music from 13, fronting a trip-hop band after discovering albums by Massive Attack and Portishead. Gigs soon followed, held afloat in rowing boats, in a huge cave on the island of Hestur. At 16 Eivør quit school, moving alone to Reykjavik to release her debut album and pursue classical singing training. She has since won the Icelandic Music Prize, twice – the first non-Icelandic artist to do so. Such itinerant tendencies have bled into her music, ‘Segl’ no exception. “My creative process can be very chaotic and abstract, so I need to find the space to dive deeper into it and sculpt it,” she says. “After sitting on songs for a year or more, I’d go in and edit the melody or the lyrics. Sometimes the production too. The whole album is very much about change, so it’s quite apt.” Working closely again with composer/producer Tróndur Bogason (also her husband), the extra space allowed Eivør to explore programming and production more thoroughly than ever before, focussed on a free flow of ideas, and enriching collaborations.
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