Getting Older And Wiser With Samaris And Pascal Pinon’s Jófríður Ákadóttir

Jófríður Ákadóttir is one of the young stars of the Reykjavík scene, via her two bands Pascal Pinon and Samaris. Grapevine caught up with her for a pre-Airwaves chat…

Hello there Jófríður. You’ve been busy lately with the Samaris UK release on One Little Indian. Exciting! How’s it all going?
It’s going really well thank you, we just finished recording finally! So if all goes according to the plan we’ll have a brand new album out in March. Áslaug is off to Russia, where she’ll start her 4 month journey through Asia, so unfortunately she won’t be with us at Airwaves. But we have a great substitute player to do the Airwaves shows.

Airwaves must be a busy time of year for you, with both Pascal Pinon and Samaris playing? Are you looking forward to it?
Yes very much so, it’s always a bit crazy for me and I tend to end up playing more shows than is healthy. But this time I’m trying to be wiser and carefully select the shows, venues, times etc. so I won’t crash at some point. Still it’s always so much fun, every day is weirder than the other one, and every year is better than the last, so I have a lot to look forward to.

When was your first Airwaves, and how was it? Any fond memories?
It was in 2009, where I played with Pascal Pinon at Faktorý, which was then called Grand Rokk. It was extremely hot and sweaty, and quite odd for us because it was the first time we played for so many foreigners. On Saturday we all went to see Micachu & The Shapes in Listasafnið, we were such fangirls we stood in the front, 15 years old still with braces, and got picked up at 11pm by our parents.

I wonder which international bands on 2013 the lineup set your pulse racing?
Omar Souleyman, Gold Panda and Zola Jesus.

Can you tip us on a new Icelandic artist that people should look out for?
I’m curious to see Loji.

And is there an established veteran Icelandic band you think nobody should miss this year?
Múm! The new album is great.

What’s your favourite festival venue, and why? Could you share a good memory from there?
Nasa of course, but that’s history now. I love Listasafnið, the only time I go there for shows is during Airwaves, so it has a special feeling attached to it that’s hard to describe. I also love Iðnó, I played there with Pascal Pinon last year and we were joined on the stage by our little sisters, then 10 and 11 years old. The atmosphere was so incredible, it was the first night and the first show of the festival, the weather was crazy, everybody was so excited about the coming days. And then when the girls first came out on the stage the crowd went crazy!

A lot international guests will be arriving in the city for the festival – let’s give them some advice on…
… A good daytime activity? Go swimming, the hot tubs are best in cold weather.
… A recommended place for dinner? Grænn Kostur, get some quick soup.
… A good breakfast spot for the morning after? C is for Cookie.

Could you share some pieces of advice for all the Airwaves first-timers out there?
Bring your warm clothes, you have no idea how shitty the weather can get.

Where should people go to have a listen to your music?
To 12 Tónar on Skólavörðustígur, sit in their couches and have some coffee, nowhere else has a better selection of Icelandic music.

Photo by Nanna Dís.