Daníel Ágúst and Björn Jörundur have worked together since 1987 and work as one man who writes almost all the lyrics for the band's songs. They are extremely happy with Raunheimar. PhotoCredit: mbl.is/Karítas
The band Nýdönsk's latest album and fourteenth, Raunheimar (Real World), will be released on Friday, January 31. The band will perform at a release concert in Harpa's Norðurljósasalur at 7 pm on the same day and at a side concert at 10 pm.
Nýdönsk was formed in 1987 and today consists of founding members Björn Jörundur Friðbjörnsson, Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson, and Ólafur Hólm Einarsson as well as Jón Ólafsson and Stefán Hjörleifsson, who formally joined the band in 1990.
More than seven years have passed since Nýdönsk's last album, Á plánetunni jörð (On Planet Earth), was released, but the band has never had a longer gap between albums. A journalist sat down with lead singers Björn and Daníel in the cozy library of Hotel Holt, where Icelandic cultural history is all-encompassing and the closeness to the old masters is palpable.
The music is in the air
When asked why the band decided to make a new album after such a long time, Björn responded that they suddenly realized how much time had passed. They simply agreed to stop hanging around and start making a new album.
“Then this music is taken from somewhere in the sky. It is in the air and it has to be tapped into. The songs rarely come fully formed. You have to approach this lovingly, work on it consistently, and keep the best parts,” Björn says.
Daníel adds that time is on their side and they are in no hurry. He says that all band members are songwriters, and therefore the band can choose from songs.
"We are musicians, have created value together for almost four decades, are not discouraged, and still want to do something adventurous. We have ambitions to create new music that matters, but not to settle for playing only the good old songs, which still stand on their own.
We have a certain creative spirit in our chest and a certain spark that we are still in service of and must take care of," he says.
As two bodies and one soul
Daníel and Björn were given facilities in a holiday home out in the countryside while making the album, where they focused on songwriting and writing lyrics.
"This is such fun work when the two of us get together. We are like two bodies and one soul when we put our strength together," Daníel says.
Björn says they wrote all the lyrics on the album together – except for one, “which Daníel made up in his unique way when I took a breather,” says Björn and grins. “I didn’t see it – when you went for a walk,” adds Daníel and laughs. “Then he stole it,” says Björn, “and wrote an awesome lyric.”
It’s no secret to anyone who shares a space with these two big guns of Icelandic pop history that they are great friends and good colleagues who have deep respect for each other.
Peter Gabriel's Real World
The year 2024 was a great year for Nýdönsk with a successful recording session of Raunheimar in one of the most sought-after recording studios in the world, ever since its founding in the late 1980s or around the same time as Nýdönsk was created, Real World Studios in Southern England, from which the album's name is taken.
The man behind the studio is English musician Peter Gabriel. They say that the band has secretly and openly looked at the English musician's Real World with dreamy eyes for nearly four decades, and when it came to choosing a studio now, they liked the identification of the band and the studio - that it has held its ground all this time.
The band with Peter Gabriel. They had been secretly and clearly looking to his Real World Studios, with dreamy eyes for nearly four decades, before they recorded their latest album Raunheimar in the Real World Studios of Peter Gabriel. Photo/Simon Whitehead
A woman who reads minds
The master of recording English for Real World Studios is Katie May, who, despite her young age, has recorded all the big artists.
“She is like a dream,” says Daníel, and Björn adds that she works fast and is clearly gifted because she always knew what they were doing despite not understanding a word they were saying to each other.
“Her personal touch is obvious,” says Daníel, and Björn adds that May was quick to set up the soundscape on the album, which continues throughout the album.
Daníel then mentions Guðmundur Pétursson’s contribution in particular. “Guðmundur is a guitar genius, who we had to help us, and he gave the album magic and added a lot.”
Song of the Year 2024
On the new album, Raunheimar, the band gets to enjoy themselves, and Björn says the album can best be described as a live studio album where the listener gets to hear the recording as it occurs.
The preview of Raunheimar was released in July, Fullkomið farartæki (A perfect vehicle), but the song was a huge hit and eventually became the song of the year 2024 on the radio channel Rás 2 and the most popular song of the year on the radio channel Bylgjan. It is told from the perspective of a middle-aged housewife, but the theme of the lyrics on the album is direct or distorted references to the real world of the average middle-aged man.
A few seats still available
Recently, another song from the album was released, called Hálka lífsins (The slippery slope of life). It tells the story of a man in a bind who never quite gets there and is always out of sorts with himself and more. In the interludes, he calls home and tries to get back on track with his partner. Björn says things are going rather badly and it's a bit of a mess.
There are still a few seats available for Nýdönsk's two release concerts in Harpa on January 31st at tix.is, but for those interested, it doesn't pay to hesitate too long, because if the band's current popularity is anything to go by, it probably won't be long before all tickets sell out.
