Words by

Jóhannes Bjarkason

Photo by

Supplied by Hipsumhaps

Hipsumhaps tackles life’s hardships

If you’ve been following Icelandic music in the last few years, there’s a good chance you are familiar with the artist Hipsumhaps. The brainchild of musician Fannar Ingi Friðþjófsson, Hipsumhaps’ music epitomises everyday bliss. Their latest album, Ást & Praktík, was released on October 1. Oh and by the way, we’ll definitely steal that song title.

Gleðitíðindi

I wanted to kick off the album with a happy jam. This is the first song that had me and Kiddi feeling like we were on to something. My little cousins reassured me that it’s good.

Hjarta

This one follows the story of a hopeless romantic. That screams for a saxophone solo. My heart disease is an inspiration for the drum progression. A bit of a squirty hi-hat sound from the drum machine mixed with live drums.

Á ég að hafa áhyggjur?

I love the vibe on this one. The demo was called “Age of Content,” which is an awesome song title, by the way. If you’re reading this you have no rights to use it. Kidding. You can use it.

Góðir hlutir gerast hææægt

This is a song about my old car. My first car. I’ve been avoiding translating my song titles to English but this one says something about good things happening slowly. Which is pretty on point for the recording process. It took us over 10 attempts to land this one. Worth it.

SMS

The lyrics probably sound like bullshit binary unless you had an old Nokia cellphone. The letters I shout out in the opening verse are the ones that appear on the screen when you hit the keypad while texting on these phones. What does it say? That’s for you to find out, buddy.

Hugmyndin um þig

We started recording a love song. But then I didn’t agree with the idea of it. It sounded too naive. So I rewrote the lyrics thinking about the idea of myself making me want to become a better person. Even more naive, but hey.

Annan heim

It started off with an 808 and guitar melody. I was listening to a lot of Moby and Fred Again and their soundscape is so sad and beautiful. Feels lost. This song became something else when we recorded it at Sundlaugin.

Ástið

An ode to this day’s youth. Their love and other struggles. A non-binary waltz.

Skattemus

Skattemus felt relevant as a song title for my fiance’s tune since we lived in Denmark for a year. The album was mostly written during our stay in Aarhus. I love this song.

Ást & praktík

The ultimate pillow-talk. Title track. The mood was inspired by a song on an album I found in my dad’s old vinyl collection, “Total Control” by The Motels.

1, 31

I bought a small AKAI MIDI controller that I could keep in my lap and play around with while watching TV. I’m no piano player, but the arpeggiator on this one is all me. I just turned 31 when I started writing this song and I connected with that number. It’s a prime number so nothing adds up but 1 and the number itself. This one is for my obsessions.

Þrjú orð

Last but not least. This was one of the first song ideas I had for this album. I always called it “Bowie” because of the chord progression at the end. If you’re reading this then thank you for listening to our album.