Electric Dreams: Good Moon Deer’s Tireless Electronic Experiments

Guðmundur Úlfarsson—also known by his musical moniker Good Moon Deer—is an Icelandic graphic designer and musician who currently lives in Belgium. He released his first album, the sample-heavy ‘Dot,’ as a limited run of 50 special edition LPs in 2015, and he’s currently preparing to unveil a new album, and readying himself for a live set at Sónar Reykjavík 2019.

The whole package

Being a designer, Guðmundur is interested in the idea of ‘the whole package.’ “I make visuals and videos to accompany my music, and design and produce the record covers,” he says. “Taking care of all of these things can be extremely time consuming and stressful, but really enjoyable in the end.”

“During the first years of this project, it got described as ‘jazz for the digital age,’ which I quite enjoyed.”

Guðmundur’s first musical memories are from when he was a teenager. “The Prodigy sparked my interest in electronic music, and I guess it has shaped my taste in music ever since,” he explains. “Then, while studying in Amsterdam, I started DJing and realized mixing together different tracks to create something new was something I liked.”

Happy accidents and weird combinations

Searching, experimenting and running into happy accidents and weird combinations drives Guðmundur’s music making. “I’m always trying to find something new that I like or that excites me,” he says. “The other enjoyment comes after I release it into the world so people can make up their own minds about it.”

Digital jazz

Even Guðmundur struggles to describe the style of music he makes. “It has some experimental breaks in a wide range of tempos, mixed with hints of techno and trip-hop, even,” he says. “During the first years of this project, it got described as ‘jazz for the digital age,’ which I quite enjoyed.”

Guðmundur says that his forthcoming album—due for a summer release—will be more gear-heavy than his sample-based debut. “I’ve been experimenting with some new instruments and effects that are really hard to control,” he says. “At Sónar you’ll hear the result—completely new material with a new visual show. Not to be missed!”

See Good Moon Deer’s new audio-visual performance at Sónar Reykjavík 2019. Check out more music news on Reykjavik Grapevine here.