Track By Track: ‘Floating Harmonies’ By Júníus Meyvant

Westman Islands-based singer-songwriter Júníus Meyvant first started to turn heads for his soulful folk pop after releasing his first single, “Color Decay,” and has been busy performing and working on his recently released debut album, ‘Floating Harmonies’, ever since. Make sure to catch the album release concert at Háskólabíó August 27.

Here are Júníus’s thoughts on the album.

1. “Be A Man”

I listen to a lot of instrumental music and as I see it, you should always start with a strong intro track. The reason I named this track “Be A Man” is that I wanted to encourage people to do good deeds, to say they are sorry if they mess up and to try and make up for their mistakes by showing love. Basically, to be a man.

2. “Beat Silent Need”

This song is about being bullied. “Don’t let my feet run over you” are words that haunted me while writing it. I thought about us as human beings and how when we get scared we tend to freeze up. Stillness makes us look in the mirror for too long. We need to start walking and talking. Give them bullies some hugging.

3. “Color Decay”

I was folding my laundry when I wrote this song. A feeling hit me and I knew I was going to write a good song. The theme of it is time, and how every living thing has its moment of triumph and a moment of decay. This song created the sound of the whole album. Recording it, however, wasn’t easy; let’s just say it cost many hours, and many tears.

4. “Neon Experience”

This one goes: “Don’t let the whole world drag you down, new day will come, come around.” I’m saying that life is too short to be taken too seriously. Do what you feel like doing, as long as you don’t hurt the people around you. This song is inspired purely by 60s soul.

5. “Domestic Grace Man”

My father and older brother play guitar with me in this song so it feels like home to me. It also reminds me of the country music that my dad used to play when I was growing up.

6. “Hailslide”

I was skateboarding when I wrote this song. The day started out warm and sunny but then it began to hail. I thought to myself, “just let the hail slide in the groove” and, lo and behold, my mindset was sunshine again.

7. “Mighty Backbone”

This song makes me want to dance. My drummer started playing an African beat to my guitar playing, and the rest is history. The lyric is, “Come stir the water running through the backbone of true peace.” If we would try to stir the water within and start helping our neighbors, the world would become a better place.

8. “Gold Laces”

This song came very easily to me. It made me sad to see on the news that about 50% of all marriages in Iceland end in divorce. We live in a fast-growing economy where society tells us to dream big and strive for greatness. In that process we tend to forget about our family. Gold is pure and laces tie your shoes together; “Bring out the gold laces” therefore means we should tie marriages together with something greater then ourselves.

9. “Signals”

“Signals” is about people who truly love God. However, I also wanted to make a song about people who use God as a war tool. This was the result.

10. “Manos”

I wanted to create a song using only two chords and adding other instruments to them. In the song, I sing: “Without you love, we would die young.” I believe we are made of the body, spirit and soul and if one of those three things dies, we die as well. When that happens, we can’t walk straight.

11. “Pearl In Sandbox”

Have you ever felt so numb, you can’t laugh nor cry? “Pearl In Sandbox” is about that feeling. It is only me playing my guitar. What inspired the track was a guy who had messed up his life over and over, and eventually had to sit down and write a sorry letter to his family.

12. “Floating Harmonies”

I call my band “The Floating Harmonies.” I wanted to name my band and album after this song because the title fits. I don’t know exactly what the song is about but I wrote a part of it in between sleep and waking. It’s a late night song.