Electric Dreams: Melodies Of The Deep With Sindri7000

Sindri7000 is the solo project of composer and guitarist Sindri Freyr Steinsson. His 2016 album ‘Music For Divers’ was his first foray into downtempo and deeply melodic, electronic territory. It’s outlandish, dreamy, a tad depraved, and yet hopeful. It tells a great and delightful story that has kept me wanting more. So, I talked to him about his influences and modus operandi.

This project was born during a period of extended production time on his band Boogie Trouble’s album. “I had bought all the guitar pedals I could imagine and received an analogue synthesizer as a gift from a friend,” says Sindri. “Being a shitty keyboard player, I made a lot of single note melodies which I then decided to layer.”

The outcome was a grainy and quirky mix of synthesizer and guitar effects which he then built on. “I thought fun machine drums were a logical accompaniment,” Sindri explains.

Tónlist fyrir kafara by Sindri7000

Cousteau you better don’t

Sindri is a fan of the late French oceanographer and explorer Jacques Cousteau. “Imagine David Attenborough down and out after a bottle of wine, grandiose and philosophically resentful—thats Cousteau,” he says. The song names and dialogue samples chosen by Sindri for ‘Music For Divers’ originate from Cousteau’s documentaries—which portray the mysterious and sometimes hazardous environments of the deep sea. “My idea was to make a new soundtrack to these documentaries,” says Sindri. “They have a lot of cliché existentialist monologues that inspired me.”

New music by Sindri7000 was featured on Möller Records’ compilation ‘Helga Vol.6,’ and more seems to be in the works. “I was in Japan last summer,” he finishes, “and got some ideas.”

See Sindri7000 perform at Grapevine Grassroots #5 at Húrra on April 17th. ‘Music For Divers’ is available at sindri7000.bandcamp.com.

Electric Dreams explores the realm of Icelandic electronic music—something for your mind, body and soul. Alexander Jean de Fontenay is an Icelandic music enthusiast, DJ and student of culture.