Ásta’s Music Poetry, aYia, and Airwaves

Yeah, you read that correctly, that’s the aYia that released “Water Plant” a few weeks back.

Further, she reveals that last June she journeyed out to New York to create a selection of poetry music which she will debut at this year’s Airwords at Iceland Airwaves. What follows is a lightly edited transcript from the conversation that followed.

On her solo work

You’re a pretty private person. What was it that made you decide to step out into the limelight?

It can be tiring to be so invisible all the time. I feel like I’ve been doing that for too long… I recently took a trip to a place of a wonderful chaos with no rules, and the mountains wore a hat of mist. My travelling pals started calling me the invisible woman because I kept having the tendency to hide, and they made me realise how important it is to be.

That’s quite a large step! But what can you tell me about your recording session in New York this summer?

Many surprising things happened in New York. My initial plan changed in the last minute, and a good friend got me in contact with super talented people that helped me record.

What I was doing was attempting to take my works of poetry and rearrange them in a musical manner without thinking about song structures or anything of the sort. Although lyrics and poems are closely knit in many ways, our association with text in music is completely different from text on paper. What I had been doing before this was making music where the lyrics conformed to certain rules that made it work, but what I was doing with this project was trying to make something different; to take poems and work with them in a way that didn’t adhere to any kind of rules. No notes, no formal setup, no nothing! I just let the words fall where they may and arrange themselves. It was an experiment to give words some sort of freedom. Trying to create a platform where words and tones operate independently but can merge together without trying to dictate meaning… Trying to give yourself this total freedom is just like trying to pick the atoms that you breathe in… It’s impossible. I’m interested in poems, in music, in rap, but moreover I thirst for something that’s not a poem, or text read to music, or text that is rapped or sung or transformed. I’m thirsty for something new, and this is an honest attempt at creating that. And it doesn’t really matter if it succeeds or not, because when you’re making something and know it’s right, it is good in itself even when you know it’s likely to fail. But failing is okay, because it’s part of perfection. It’s a part of the process.

When can we expect more material from this recording session?

I have NO clue! Because I know about my tendency to hide myself and most of the things I do, I can’t promise an outcome or a product anytime soon. I’m a very spontaneous person, so it might be released tomorrow, or it might be released in twenty years! It all depends on the flow, right? Easy does it, don’t force it.

On aYia

What's the story behind aYia? How did you get together, and for how long has this been a work in progress?

There is no story. Just a start of a sentence in a middle of some mumbling, and the music is so loud that you don't even hear anything. You can only try to guess the words by reading the lips moving.

We got together one night, and then another night. And then the night after that night there was another night. I can't remember if there actually was an afternoon any time in there.

I started doing separate solo projects with the lads, only for it to turn out out that they are good friends so we all came together. We’ve been doing this since the day of the bloodhound, when me and the one of the guys were just playing with some tunes down at his school after closing. On the other hand I met the other one when he was recording my secret album; some music just isn't made for human ears so the album never came out. So after that we started working together making car music, the kind that you can play really loudly in a car going somewhere in the middle of the night.

How long of a set do you have? Do you have an album in the works?

Our set is about as much time as it takes to zoom into the void and let it swallow you. So, about 30 minutes, I guess.

I’m not sure in what context we would put out an album nowadays, but there are some more songs on the Milky Way, heading in our direction.

Some people talk about art being a way to escape from reality to other fantastical worlds. Is this one of aYia's central motifs?

I was actually just talking about this the other day. The thing about escapism is that it is both good and bad. It helps people deal with things in a different way, but it can also lead to denial of a reality that is there. Icelanders have a long history of occupying themselves with stories and songs when the weather is shitty. But we weren’t talking about fairytale worlds; the stories were dark and full of terror about everyday heroes. The songs were sad but still made you feel better. That is a perfect example of this escapism thing. If it's a reality that helps you in another one, it's good.

We don’t have a specific motif about trying to bring people another reality. But there is definitely a connection there. When we play and record I feel like I’m in another dimension, one that doesn’t follow any laws other than the ones we give it. But then again, reality is just the way you look at it. To me it is very obvious that we are creating a wormhole of sounds and I get sucked into it; whether that is a good or a bad thing, I have no clue.

On Airwaves

For how long have you been going to Airwaves? How often have you performed there, and what are your first memories of the festival?

I have actually been performing there almost every year in the past ten years. I think the lads have also been playing for that long in different bands, doing all kind of things.

My first memories were when I was playing for the first time. It was in The Reykjavik Art Museum. I was playing a blue electric violin that apparently sounded awful, but I had great fun.

Wow, ten years? That makes you one of the longer running veterans of the festival. What is it that brings you back? Don't you ever go "oh, humbug, it's time for Airwaves again?"

Yes, I think it’s about ten years, but you make it look like I am ‘the longer running veteran of the festival!' Haha, most of the stuff was just me doing some weird shit in the corner up on stage. But the thing is as far as I know, I haven't been doing stuff that people notice, and most of that is because I have this tendency to hide everything I do.

What brings me back is just the fact that I find Airwaves to be one of the best music festivals in the world! You have all the industry people there in one place, there’s loads of fun, and it really creates this special atmosphere in the city when it’s happening. It is the talk of the town, and it’s such a great opportunity for Icelandic bands to get noticed or just to get out onto the scene and have fun. Everybody follows up on what new cats are doing and what is happening.

No I don’t think that thought has crossed my mind once. I look forward to perform every year!

Looking at the schedule, there often seem to be too many good bands performing, often at the same time. Do you have any tips for first time goers on how to survive the experience?

Go with the flow. Don't stress yourself over catching every act. If you are having fun with good people or find a nice vibe in one of the venues, don’t try to be somewhere else. When it comes down to it, the most important place you could ever be at is just exactly where you are standing. And also, there’s always shitty and rainy weather, so if you are standing in the line for an hour, this is just Iceland giving you a harsh and cold lesson: Magic things come from within! You can have the time of your life in that line. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning how to dance in the rain.

But speaking of acts to catch, are there any that you know you have to see with your own eyes?

For readers that want info on Icelandic stuff, I would say JFDR will definitely be great. Her sets always seems to charm everybody with her beautiful and delicate tunes. I am also excited to see Skrattar, who I have never seen play live. East Of My Youth is good girl power pop, they have a different element going on and it’s a nice addition to what’s going on. Listening to WESEN always makes me feel like my life is okay, and when they perform live they are so friendly and fun. I’d say Kött Grá Pjé is a golden performer who really represents the rad part of this icetown’s scene. Bára Gísladóttir is also playing; somehow I’ve always managed to miss her performances, so I would very much like to see her this Airwaves.

Finally, what do you do in between Airwaves nights? How do you recharge your batteries?

Recharge? Hmm, I'd say go hug people. Love is in the air and music brings people together.

Ásta Fanney plays one show at Airwaves tonight - Harpa Kaldalón at 23.10. aYia play at Best Fit’s Bedroom Community Showcase tomorrow (4 November) at 16.00 and then at Harpa Silfurberg at 20.00, with one final show on Saturday (5 November) at 22.30 in Húrra.