Grapevine Playlist: Huginn, Ólafur Arnalds, ZÖE & More!

Start your weekend off right with this selection of new tracks. All brought to you in the midst of earthquakes shaking our office. Eek.

Huginn – Geimfarar

Huginn is quite the dark horse when it comes to hip-hop and RnB in Iceland. He’s had some hits under his belt, such as “Klakar” and “Veist Af Mér”, which have a combined 2 million plays on Spotify. That said, he still seems often underused in hip-hop songs—just singing the mandatory chorus or so. But his newest song, “Geimfarar”, has the potential to become a huge easy listening monster hit. Like always, Huginn’s voice is full of soul and honesty. If you want an international analogy, Post Malone is possibly the one that comes to mind. With this new pop hit, Huginn could possibly be catapulted to the top of the ranks. And we’re rooting for him all the way. VG

ZÖE – Feed the Wolves

Here, ZÖE gives us a powerful ballad. She has a beautiful dark tone in her voice, making the song quite impactful. The composition is a little bit by the playbook but her voice keeps the song relevant and lifts it up until it gets to a powerful conclusion. VG

Ólafur Arnalds – Spiral – Sunrise Session

Iceland’s favourite workaholic neo-classical composing genius just doesn’t know when to stop. The month following the release of his sublime 2020 studio album ‘Some Kind Of Peace’, he reassembled some of those who collaborated on that album to film a recorded session on location. Ólafur chose the shortest day of the year for this project, highlighting the idea of a global sunrise; hope for an imminent post-COVID dawn. The dizzying helix of the track’s intertwining strings and piano, reaching endlessly upwards, will be familiar to fans from the album. But the feel of musicians playing live—together, in a room—reinforces the sense of pandemic conclusion. JP

Víkingur Ólafsson/Helgi Jónsson – Footsteps

Víkingur Ólafsson is nothing less than an Icelandic classical rockstar and has shown repeatedly in past years that he is one of the best in the world in the genre. But in his new EP ‘Reflections Pt.3 / RWK’, he reveals a different and very interesting side. That brings us to his new song, “Footsteps,” sung by Helgi Jónsson, which is a beautifully haunting composition based on the voice of Helgi and the excellent piano playing by Víkingur. This is a must listen for all superfans of Víkingur—such as ourselves—as well as anybody that wants a more approachable side of Víkingur but doesn’t want to jump straight into Brahms. VG

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