Track By Track: Alveg By Benni Hemm Hemm & Páll Óskar

Brought together for the TV programme Hljómskálinn, neither Páll Óskar nor Benni Hemm Hemm suspected that this one-off opportunity would take further flight. As their collaboration progressed, more and more demos started springing up. Before they knew it, they were making an album. Progressively optimistic, covered in a sugary glaze of pop, Alveg tackles contemporary issues with glee.

Undir álögum

The first seconds of this opening track of the album are exactly what happened when we were asked to write a song for the TV show Hljómskálinn. The drum machine on Benni’s ‘70s living room organ, and these simple and slightly haunting chords. Palli’s lyrics about the lifting of a spell refer to him meeting the man who was to become his husband and maybe also to his creative process. He hadn’t written songs for an album in eight years and was starting to wake up from that spell, thirsty for new, fresh songs.

Allt í lagi

We wrote “Undir álögum” for Hljómskálinn, but this is the track we ended up performing. This is the bubblegum song of the album. It’s about everyday nonsense stress and realising that usually everything is fine and we’ve just gotten caught up in a whirlwind that’s inside our heads. On the same day the track was released, Palli broke his jaw in three places, and Donald Trump threw Zelensky out of the White House. And we were singing, “Everything’s fine!” with smiles on our faces. We felt a bit silly. But we hope the core of the song can withstand the circumstances and remind some people out there that sometimes our troubles are just imaginary nonsense in our heads that has nothing to do with the outside world. More on the outside world later…

Alveg satt

“Alveg satt” is a rare combination of a love song and a fuck-the-system song and is written in real time, as Palli’s husband was facing deportation from Iceland. It’s a direct declaration of love and a statement that says love is stronger than rules written on paper by fellow humans.

This track needed all our session musicians for the instrumental parts, full of strings and French horn and milk-filled drums.

Valentínus

“Valentínus,” named after the saint now employed by corporations marketing love-themed merchandise, is written for couples who have been together for a long time and have been through thick and thin and don’t want to see their love as a product on the shelves of supermarkets. The ultimate goal, sung in the chorus, is that life is one glorious Valentine’s Day.

Breytingar

After writing the first three or four songs we realised we were working on an album. Up until that point we had just been making one song for a TV show — but by the time we came to “Breytingar” we knew we were making an album. And then we wanted to know where we wanted this album to go. What did we want to say? This is the first track on the album that speaks directly to conservative people and the right wing who are afraid of foreigners and queer people and tells them that the one thing everyone can count on is that things change and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Eitt af blómunum

“Eitt af blómunum” was called Carrie until the very end of working on the album. According to Palli, Carrie is the best film ever made, and he says he sees one Carrie at every school dance he performs at. He wanted to sing a song for Carrie — all the Carries. The trickiest part of finding the right tone for the lyrics was getting the right angle, not to sing to the victim of a cruel culture but standing with those who get bullied. We all know what it means to be bullied. Some of us have been bullied, others have been the bullies, and the rest have witnessed bullying. “Eitt af blómunum” is for all the multicoloured flowers out there that only have to find their people to blossom.

Heimilið

“Heimilið” is a tour of Palli’s home. We visit his kitchen, his movie nights, morning cup of coffee, and say hi to his pets (who have moved in on their own accord). The chord structure is weirdly complex and simple at the same time and gives the song a wavy character.

Þeir máttu það

“Þeir máttu það” is the second song about bullying and again links up how it works from both a personal and a global perspective, which we think is a very good way to understand it. Someone wants to improve their position by inflicting violence on another human and for some reason they are allowed to do it and because the bully is strong and scary and the system that is supposed to prevent violence doesn’t function the society around them becomes numb and does nothing. In the song, Palli sings, “They were allowed, but today they are not.” It is possible to stop allowing bullies to carry out their violence and we need to stick together and make it clear.

Hver sendi þig?

“Who sent you?” is not a janitor’s annoyed reply but a sugary sweet bossanova love song with guardian angels and a sense of wonder. Urður Hákonardóttir, our favourite singer, sings the dreamy chorus lines, as she does on a few other tracks on the album.

Punktarnir tveir

On “Punktarnir tveir” we get a cosmic aerial view of Palli and his husband as two small dots on the map. The solina synthesiser provides much of the cosmic atmosphere in the track and flies to outer space on a wall of 18 fuzz-guitars.

Þú mættir

As soon as we started working on this song we knew it was the closing track of the record. It is an homage to Julee Cruise, and we wanted to make it as dark and mysterious as we could. We mixed the drums so that they are mostly in the background, and Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir makes a star entrance with her super bright vocals, and she also plays the French horn in the middle of the song.