gabirWatch rising Icelandic artist Elín Hall in session deep in a lave cave

Hall is currently riding high in her home country, with the success of last year’s record Heyrist í mér which she made with producer Árni Hjörvar (taking time out from his other job as bassist for The Vaccines). Hall performed “Manndráp af gáleysi” in the cave, which has just hit number one on Icelandic national radio.

The track, which translates as “Reckless Homicide” addresses the merciless nature of breaking your lover’s heart. “I wrote it about a time in my life where I behaved and loved recklessly and had to face the consequences,” Hall explains. “I felt horrible, like I had committed a crime and should have known better. The song is about the complicated nuances of human relationships but more importantly taking responsibility for causing someone pain."

Watch the session, filmed during Iceland Airwaves back in November last year, below.

Hall penned the song alone but when it came to recording, producer Hjörvar wanted to lean into the track’s isolated feeling. “He made me record every element, the guitar, voices and synths,” Hall recalls. “So every sound on the track was produced by my voice or with my hands. Árni then took the recordings and created musical magic and we had a song.”

Hall’s polymathic career has also seen her star in two feature-length movies and she’s about to perform in the musical Eitruð Lítil Pilla – aka Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morrisette and Glen Ballar – which is set to premiere at Borgarleikhúsið in Reykjavík later this month.

Record in Iceland is a refund programme offered by Iceland’s Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs that gives anyone who records their music in Iceland a 25% refund on all recording costs incurred in Iceland. All you need to do is submit the total cost related to your recording – including travel, accommodation, wages and even post-production like mixing and mastering. The refund will go through in the following quarter. It’s that easy – and makes Iceland the smart and easy choice for anyone wanting to find an inspiring location to record their next album.