Grapevine New Music Picks: Laufey, Jónsi, Karen Ósk, & Jelena Ćirić

It’s a sunny Friday in Reykjavík, which means it’s time to put your headphones in, put on your sunglasses, and crank the tunes with our new music picks. Apparently August 26 is a good day to release songs, so enjoy these just-released beauties!

All these tracks—and so many more brought to you by The Grapevine over the past twelve months—are available in our New Music Picks 2021-22 playlist.

Laufey – Everything I know about love

Every track on this album is lush. At once classically timeless and wholly modern, Laufey’s velvety alto is perfectly accompanied by some of the smoothest playing ever heard in a backing band. Ideal for your next dinner party, or for a night in by yourself with some candles and wine. ASF

Jónsi, Sing Fang, Kjartan Holm, Alex Somers – Birki

With crackling wood, dripping water, and birdsong, “Birki” is giving off strong enchanted forest vibes. Whether you’re shopping at Fischer—the downtown Reykjavík store it was created for—or need some soft sounds to focus at work, this soundtrack will transport you to the place of peace you desire. EL

Karen Ósk – Allt svo hljótt

Whether you realised it or not, Icelandic country is a musical genre, and Karen Ósk hit the nail on the head. Catchy vocals paired with light and airy guitar mean this is going to be stuck in our heads for the next week. It was just released today, and the weather could not be more auspicious for a song that makes us want to take a stroll in the sunshine. EL

Jelena Ćirić – Rome

Jelena’s debut track from her upcoming EP is officially released today, but we were lucky enough to feature it and the accompanying beautiful music video (made by Sigurlaug Gísladóttir, who readers will likely know as Mr. Silla) on our website yesterday. The video is truly gorgeous and I encourage everyone to go check it out. The track itself is a mellow but somewhat broody musing on life and love, and the lines, “If all roads lead to Rome, God help us all,” have been ringing in my ears all week. I can’t wait to hear what the full EP sounds like! JG