DJ Pick of the Week: Asgeir, 'Afterglow'
by Mark Wheat
October 30, 2017
Asgeir Trausti Einarsson's debut album In The Silence holds the record for fastest selling Icelandic album ever and 10% of the population own it! So anticipation was very high when he released the follow up, also entitled Afterglow in the Spring. It brought more good reviews as many marveled at the twists he has put on his folky singer-songwriter sound with glitchiness, electronic washes, and jittery piano, much bolder sonic territory. Far from a slump, his reputation seems not to have been sullied at all by the sophomore album, in fact he's the only artist playing two shows for the Iceland Airwaves Festival one in Reykjavik on Friday and one in Akureyri on Thursday. That's where I will be broadcasting from and we hope to have Asgeir stop by to chat with us. We'll also have a session from Emiliana Torrini, another of the most famous Icelandic exports, remember her big hit from 1999 "Unemployed In The Summertime".
On top of that we've lined up meetings with an original member of the Sugarcubes, that's NOT Bjork; founder of Cocteau Twins and Bella Union label Simon Reynolds. And we're going on a tour of Sigur Ros's studio, the one they converted from a swimming pool! By the way, Iceland has around 345,000 people living there, fewer than either of the Twin Cities, singularly!?!? So we'll try to answer the question, how do they make so much great music and develop this amazing festival?! And how on earth did they qualify for the World Cup?! The smallest country ever to do it! We'll make as many videos as we can during the week, as I'll be joined by Nate Ryan our intrepid photo/video genius. Hope you can join us, live from the Gotubarin bar in Akureyri, Second City and Capital of The North, 10am-2pm Thursday and Friday!
Resources
Asgeir - Official Site