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Gyða Valtýsdóttir’s Mother Pearl Is A Testimony To Life
Beauty Through Abrasion Múm member, Nordic Council Music Prize Winner, and tour-de-force composer Gyða Valtýsdóttir released her latest album Mother Pearl on March 20. Drawing on philosophical inspiration, Mother Pearl is possibly Gyða’s most personal work yet, enveloped by an artful take…
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Going For Baroque*: Live Music Review Of The Early Music Festival At Harpa In Reykjavík
Early music in Iceland is new: this week was only the third edition ever of the annual Early Music Festival in Reykjavik. From 31 March to 2 April, just before the Easter weekend, Baroque ensembles, lutenists and surprisingly even a cornettist-turned-rapper took…
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Teenage Kicks And Funky Licks
Prog-folk trio Falinn Gjóður wins the cumbersome Músíktilraunir As spring rolls around, nothing encapsulates the turn of the Icelandic music season as well as Músíktilraunir. Since the 1980s, the perennial battle-of-the-bands style competition has been platforming musically inclined adolescents and slingshotted some…
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Laufey’s March 2026 Homecoming Was More Than Concerts
Taking in the music and business of Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir On my first trip to Reykjavik, I met Sigtryggur Baldursson at the Iceland Music office in March 2024. He touted Laufey’s success. I was already familiar with the breakout single “… From…
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Nai Barghouti On Developing A Vocal Technique, Stubbornness, And The Vulnerability Of Performance
The Palestinian singer, flautist, and composer previews her upcoming Reykjavík debut “I always say that just being on stage — after the first, let’s say, three minutes, that’s the worst — then it becomes one of the best feelings ever,” Nai Barghouti…
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Live Music Review: Reykjavík Folk Festival Provides Shelter From The Storm
On a weekend in the middle of March, the historic Iðnó stands within a snowy storm. Warm inside, the guests of Reykjavík Folk Festival enjoy acoustic harmonies woven into rich storytelling. It’s the second year the festival’s been held since a hiatus…
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Live Concert Review: Rakel At South By Southwest 2026
In an unusual cold spell, a singer songwriter enchanted the SXSW audience during the Icelandic Showcase. The songs felt comfortable and brought a nice warmth to the evening. As you glanced throughout you could see all the present faces who delighted in…
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Live Review: Bossanova Vincit Omnia
IDM duo Amor Vincit Omnia veered strangely acoustic during their release show Outside, snowflakes engulf woollen clothes. “Inside,” chanteuse Salóme Katrín explains, “is warm,” as she belts her final song of the night, “Inside”. Salóme Katrín is warming up for the electronica-cum-folk…
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Iceland’s Prodigal Son Ásgeir Pens A Path Forward
On Julia, Ásgeir breaks away from a long-lasting routine It’s been 14 years since Ásgeir Trausti — now using the mononym Ásgeir — released his debut album Dýrð í dauðaþögn. Its popularity and success was quickly evident, becoming the highest-selling album in…
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Sewing Machines, Combs, And A Xiao Flute
Lindy Lin makes use of everyday ephemera in her multi-disciplinary piece Mirror Stage In just a few years, Lindy (Lidong Lin) has made a considerable impression in Reykjavík’s grassroots scene. Her research project Mirror Stage is set to be performed at the…
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Art Being Consumed At The Grapevine Office This Week
We’d be preaching from an ivory tower if we didn’t have boots on the ground, ingesting and processing the cultural events we love to tell you about. This week, we’ve got two theatre and one concert review in stock. For aspiring theatre-lovers,…
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Music Being Played At The Grapevine Office This Week
You might imagine our office as a European wonderland, with espresso machines and turtlenecks and sophisticated furniture. As a street paper, we keep our overhead low. So during the week, many of us have massive headphones on, blaring our music of choice.…
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Dark Music Days: From Teenage Bedroom To Vibrating Metal Plates
Live concert review from the cutting edge As the days are still awfully short, this past weekend Dark Music Days embraced the darkness outside and celebrated contemporary music with a four-day festival. It is one of the oldest music festivals in Iceland,…
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The Grotesque & The Sublime: Daníel Bjarnason Captures Both Light And Darkness In His Upcoming Album
Daníel Bjarnason joins our Zoom call from Bologna; he’s already bounced between Iceland and abroad multiple times in the past few weeks. The established composer and conductor has been at the forefront of new Icelandic orchestral work, sitting as the artist-in-residence of…
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Music Being Played At The Grapevine Office This Week
You might imagine our office as a European wonderland, with espresso machines and turtlenecks and sophisticated furniture. As a street paper, we keep our overhead low. So during the week, many of us have massive headphones on, blaring our music of choice.…
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Introducing The 2026 Grapevine Music Awards Winners
Roll out the red carpet, please The Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards are doled out each year in the beginning of February. Having covered the winners of Artist Of The Year and Song Of The Year (Alaska1867 and “eh plan” by digital ísland,…
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Following The Hidden Hand: Ari Árelíus Continues To Explore His Groove On The Hypnotic Hulin Hönd
“I book these concerts every Sunday, and tonight I decided to book myself. You can do this,” says Ari Frank Inguson, known as Ari Árelíus, speaking from the stage of IÐNÓ during the release concert of his latest album Hulin Hönd on…
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Music Being Played At The Grapevine Office This Week
You might imagine our office as a European wonderland, with espresso machines and turtlenecks and sophisticated furniture. As a street paper, we keep our overhead low. So during the week, many of us have massive headphones on, blaring our music of choice.…
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Music Being Played At The Grapevine Office This Week
You might imagine our office as a European wonderland, with espresso machines and turtlenecks and sophisticated furniture. As a street paper, we keep our overhead low. So during the week, many of us have massive headphones on, blaring our music of choice.…
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The Nonexistent Sounds Of Doomsday: Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir Premieres Intraloper At Dark Music Days
Starting in 1980, Myrkir Músíkdagar (Dark Music Days) is one of Iceland’s most enduring music festivals, playing host to radical ideas in the field of contemporary music. Happening between January 29 to February 2, Dark Music Days features 24 separate performances, ranging…
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It’s Almost Time For The 2026 Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards!
Get ready for a celebration of the best in music With 2025 formally wrapped up, it’s a good time to take stock of the year in music. It’s almost time for the Grapevine to select the best of the best. Which artist…
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No Words: An Interview With Instrumental Rockers symfaux
symfaux explain their enigmatic nomenclature, recording habits, and creative drive “I think the lack of vocals just gives everything else more space, and gives more of a focus to everything that’s going on in the other parts. And there’s a lot,” says…
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Grapevine New Music Picks: Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Ólöf Arnalds, Andervel & More
With a new issue of the Grapevine this week, we celebrate the impactful selflessness of Iceland’s Search and Rescue teams — specifically honouring the memory of Sigurður Kristófer McQuillan Óskarsson, who died during a team training session. Gracing the music pages are…