Pan Thorarensen Experiments, Or Rather, Adventures

On a date with a local tastemaker

Few names have been as instrumental to the electronica scene of Reykjavík as Pan Thorarensen. Though starting as a teenager in hip-hop, his multi-decade project Stereo Hypnosis (founded with his father, Óskar Thorarensen), needs little introduction. Further, his yearly festival, Extreme Chill, has persisted with tenacity for the past 15 years and spurs renowned ambient artists and international collaboration with other like-minded festivals. Then, he’s releasing an album Ljóstillífun on May 15. If that’s not enough, Pan owns and runs the store Space Odyssey with his wife, Guðrún Lárusdóttir, which is where we meet.

Space Odyssey’s first iteration began on Skólavörðustígur in 2021, but their current home is on Bergstaðastræti. Space Odyssey can’t be defined by just one label. They purvey records, release cassettes, and host performances. Performances at Space Odyssey start almost always at 18:00 — but for those who can’t make it to a concert on the earlier side, fear not; performance recordings always end up on the Space Odyssey YouTube, and are released as limited-edition cassette tapes. These cassettes are produced on-site and sold only in Space Odyssey.

But the establishment isn’t only focused on music, as they sell old books, zines, and vintage clothing. “My wife, she’s a fashion designer, so we are doing this together,” Pan explains. “It was our dream to do something together. We lived in Berlin, and we loved shops like this: small, cosy, music, second-hand. I just love it, and it’s so nice to do together.”

As we wander through each corner of the store, I hear field recordings from Icelandic nature taken by Pan himself. It’s almost an understatement to describe the collection of music at Space Odyssey as niche. Pan explains that so much of what’s in the store is limited release, pointing at a section of the shop and saying, “If I get some Japanese stuff here, it’s maybe 100 copies for the whole world.”

The obscureness of his collection is also by design. Pan states his goal as, “if somebody comes into the shop and they’re like, ‘I know nothing here.’ I am like, ‘Yes!’ I’m so happy.” He explains, “I love listening to music that nobody is listening to. It’s crazy. It’s just in my heart.”

Odyssean music

Space Odyssey is often billed as an electronica/ambient destination, but Pan wants to make something clear. “The music that we are selling here, it’s not only electronica. I think people sometimes think it’s just ambient music. It’s experimental music,” he notes. “I love to call it adventurous music,” he adds with a smile.

If you have visited Space Odyssey’s Bandcamp, you have come across this term. Pan prefers to use it as a more expansive term for experimental, and it reflects the sense of joy he has when talking about the genre (and making music himself within it). As he creates, performs, curates Space Odyssey’s schedule, and books artists for Extreme Chill, he’s listening for adventure.

Pan lives in the present with Space Odyssey. In a city where creativity is too often replaced by a puffin shop, Pan tells me that they just take it month-to-month. But, in the same breath, he sagely says, “If you love what you’re doing, it’ll never die. For now, we are here, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Ljóstillífun releases on May 15, with a listening party at Space Odyssey at 18:00. On June 5, Pan will be part of a multi-artist release concert (alongside Hekla, Jóhannes Pálmason, and Unfiled) at Iðnó. Extreme Chill tickets and Early Bird Festival passes are available now.