Another music break because I’ve taken a liking to submitting photographs I’ve taken of pretty things to blogs.
Submission from: KeithListensToMusic
Took this photo while driving a section of Ring Road this past April. I only had the car for a day, but it was one of the best days of my life. Came across this abandoned little barn by a cave full of seagulls near Dyrhólaey.
Við og Við by Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds is my current listen-to-on-repeat album. Given my obsession with appreciation for singers who sing in a Scandinavian language, I came across Miss Arnalds’ tunes while listening to Björk guest-DJ a set on NPR. Björk kept mentioning her fellow Icelander’s amazing sense of chord structure, and I think that “Náttsöngur” gets that point across pretty well. Her sense of melody too. And arrangement.
Why did no one tell me that Björk is like, really good? I decided that I ought to give her a spin after I biked past her humble little house by the coast in Iceland. Also, fun fact— Björk (“birch” in swedish/icelandic) isn’t a stage name, it’s just her first name. Her last name is Guðmundsdóttir, which means daughter of Guðmundur, her father’s name. This patrynomic naming system used by all Icelanders puts much less importance on the last name, so most Icelanders just go by their first names (there’s no “Mr.” or “Mrs.”). But this isn’t my abroad blog. Jóga is (partially) about Icelandic beauty. Listen and enjoy.
