Very much part of the Reykjavik DIY scene, Indriði Ingólfsson has been a member of the uncompromising acts Muck and Sagitaria Raga,while also making his own music of extremes. The AA single "Undiraldan/Turbone" is two fantastic songs, two completely contrasting aesthetics.
Signed to New York-based Figureight Records, a label founded by Shahzad Ismaily (Will Oldham, Tom Waits) and fellow Icelandic native (and collaborator) JFDR, Indriði is set to re-release his debut album featuring these two tracks.
The first, "Undiraldan", is certainly the mellower of the two. With just guitar and voice, Indriði creates a fragile and intimate atmosphere. It's interrupted only by the sound of his fingers moving against the strings of his instrument, a distant echo of brass and sighed backing vocals. Sung in Icelandic, "Undiralden" is broken yet wistful music from someone just starting to find their voice.
In contrast, "Turbone" is chaos in the form of music. A brutal, angry and breathtaking techno track made with Eartheater (New York based experimental musician Alexandra Drewchin), it pulses and rattles with a 4/4 beat from the off. Indriði adds in gutteral screams (a hangover from his time in hardcore bands) and there's an earpiercing synth line slicing through the track alongside Eartheater's higher register voice. Once a sample of an orchestra joins in halfway through it's really time to give up predicting what Indriði might do next. It's an unrelenting piece of music, and completely spectacular.
"I started making this song in the tour van writing from Hannover to some other town," says Indriði. "We were driving fast on the autobahn. After moving to Berlin I started getting more into going to clubs and kind of discovered techno music, I just set out with making some very 'jaw grinding' music. The Strings in the middle part are played by Paul Wiancko this amazing composer and cellist; he recorded a string arrangement Aaron Roche made for my song 'Dreamcat' last fall, it's sampled from those recordings. I immediately felt that Eartheater could level up the intensity of the song."
