Auður teases the slick R&B of his upcoming debut album with two new tracks

26 October 2016, 18:00 | Written by Paul Bridgewater

(Tracks)

(Auður) (Iceland Airwaves)

23-year-old multi-instrumentalist Auðunn Lúthersson cut his teeth playing with Icelandic hardcore and noise-rock bands such as In The Company Of Men. After realising that "all the hip, cute girls in my class were listening to all this cool electronic music", he scuttled off to Sónar 2013 and had an epiphany to James Blake.

Reinventing himself under the pseudonym Auður (pronounced "Author"), Lúthersson got a leg up from the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal, getting picked from a pool of 4500+ applicants. With a slick and sensual take on R&B, he's making music that's unlike anything else coming out of Iceland right now and lyrically closer to the kind of dark themes espoused by The Weeknd and Drake.

Auður's dropping a pair of new tracks this week ahead of Iceland Airwaves, which includes an appearance on a Best Fit-curated showcase of Iceland hip hop and R&B at the Loft on 3 November.

The first, "3D" is about the frustrations of Skype sex and the fakeintimacy of video calls, with Auður obsessing over pictures of his girlfriend on social media when he couldn't reach her in any other way.

"Both Eyes on You" is an ode to Auður’s loyalty torwards his girlfriend while she was away. “I’m human,” he says, “even though it was a difficult period. I still had both eyes on her.”

"3D" and "Both Eyes on You" hit Spotify this Friday. Auður's self-released debut album Alone is out soon.