I wrote about Arny Margret a while back when she released the single 'akureyri', it was my Single of the Week, and she's definitely one of the more interesting new Nordic artists that's emerged over that last 12 months. It’s also great to see her getting good coverage in publications across the world, and her Spotify steaming numbers rising steadily each time I listen to her.
If you missed the 1st feature she's just 20 years old, a singer-songwriter from the Westfjords of Iceland who was clearly musical from an early age, but seemed to get inspiration from having her 1st guitar at the age of 14 and teaching herself to play it - often the best way.
Her debut EP contains just 4 tracks, but it's enough to demonstrate the beauty of her songwriting, which does transport you completely back to her cold and isolated homeland. Straight from the opening of title track 'intertwined' her acoustic guitar cuts through the silence, and she immediately demands our attention, with her vocals clearly expressing the lyrical themes of the song, that whether we like it or not, our past histories are somehow all intertwined.
I wrote about the gorgeous 'akureyri' previously of course, whilst 'in tall buildings' feels even more stripped back and personal, with her vocals extraordinarily powerful and a lyrical maturity that is almost frightening - "when I retire and my life is my own, I've paid all the payments now its time to go home... don't know what happened 'twixt and between, when I went to work in tall buildings". She then ends with 'sometime', another track that I can imagine her writing in the solitude of her own room on a dark Icelandic winter night.
This is really compelling songwriting from start to finish, with expressive vocals and guitar that I find spellbinding - I can't think of many young Nordic songwriters who've had such an impact on me when I've 1st heard them.
With a full album now in production, I'm pretty sure that she'll be able to spend less time working in tall buildings, and more time writing music in the surroundings that she loves.