In 2024 Eivør Pálsdóttir launched her transformative album Enn, and instructed Prog how she’d dug deep into her Faroese people traditions, the ability of nature and the vitality of solitude to make the report.
It means “nonetheless” in Faroese – though the phrase “enn” lends itself to neither the Faroe Islands, surrounded by the turbulent North Atlantic, nor the archipelago’s most well-known daughter. Since her eponymous debut in 2000, Eivør has explored people, electronica, art-rock and extra in a profession outlined by a stressed musical curiosity.
With a inhabitants of 71, the village of Tjørnuvík is the right spot to flee the distractions of recent life, and it grew to become her base of operations as she made Enn, which is impressed by stillness and solitude. “It’s a fantastic place, remoted from every thing,” she says. “You are feeling extraordinarily far-off from the remainder of the world, however you’re near nature. That makes you’re feeling related.
“It’s a robust distinction that you just expertise while you go to any tiny, remoted place. It’s virtually too quiet generally, however that forces you to make use of your creativeness. Nature and the weather have all the time been such a robust inventive drive in my music, so I wish to go to locations like that once I write. I usually have plenty of sketches that I work on in the course of the chaos, on tour or in a loud metropolis. Then I wish to take it to a quiet place to dive additional into it.”
Throughout eight songs, Enn strikes between sweeping string preparations, pulsing digital beats and expansive, cosmic soundscapes. These disparate components replicate the formative environments that formed Eivør’s creative expression.
“I grew up on this small village [Syðrugøta] within the Faroe Islands,” she says. “I keep in mind feeling an urge to sing once I was out strolling in nature. It’s the contrasts – tender, stunning summers and actually darkish, harsh winters. Even in the summertime the climate can change from one minute to a different. I feel that’s one thing you discover in my music.”
The inventive course of proved equally capricious. Eivør recorded vocals for the primary single, Jarðartrá (“Mud To Mud”) in an deserted Tjørnuvík schoolhouse, lengthy after darkish. “I had this concept in the course of the night time of this spacious, operatic voice, and I recorded it as a demo. I used to be all the time considering, ‘I’ll re-record it later and make it excellent.’
“However then I attempted to re-record it in a correct studio with costly mics and all that – and the humorous factor is I couldn’t seize the identical temper. Generally it’s concerning the temper you’re in while you’re creating; so I made a decision to make use of the demo on the album.”
The songs on Enn are sung in Faroese; so whereas the beats and manufacturing assert the modernity of the music, Eivør’s voice roots the album in one thing that feels older and deeper, significantly when she employs guttural throat-singing on Upp Úr Øskuni (“Out of the Ashes”).
“I’m extraordinarily impressed by the heritage of the Faroe Islands,” she says. “Our people music is all primarily based on a capella singing. It has are so some ways of expressing with a voice, as a result of there have been no devices within the Faroe Islands till very late.”
She turned to an previous collaborator, poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs – with whom she labored on 2015’s Slør – to create the lyrics. “It’s a fantastic factor when artists get collectively and share their artistry; you usually find yourself someplace the place neither of you’ll find yourself by yourselves,” Eivør says. “Marjun has this stunning language and this fairly uncooked factor to her lyrics. We had an important chemistry.”
Generally Kjelnæs took a track right into a course Eivør hadn’t foreseen, as with Upp Úr Øskuni. “I knew it must be a track about feminine empowerment and sisterhood – an ode to all the ladies who’ve made me stronger in my life. The lyrics Marjun despatched me again have been loopy. It was so uncooked. I hadn’t anticipated a lyric like that; I used to be extraordinarily impressed and it modified the best way I selected to sing the track.”
I used to be considering, ‘That vast stage – what are we going to do?’ However I really feel just like the magic is already there; you simply should go along with it
Apart from that late-night schoolhouse session, a lot of the recording came about in Eivør’s house studio. “Then I went to a different studio with my band – I needed to seize some live-played moments, to specific the natural feeling of the music,” she says. “I went to Studio Bloch within the Faroe Islands, which sadly simply closed down. I simply managed to do my final studio session there.”
Whereas she loves the sound of the complete band, for her latest quick run opening for Heilung in america, she used a duo format. “It’s all the time enjoyable to be challenged in these methods, as a result of I nonetheless needed to play a few of my greater tracks,” she says. “However we managed to do this with the duo set-up. It retains me a bit busier as a result of I’ve to play extra devices, and so does my bass participant. It was nice enjoyable.”
One of many exhibits was at Colorado’s open-air Purple Rocks Amphitheatre. “I used to be a bit nervous about that,” Eivør admits. “I used to be considering, ‘Oh my God, the 2 of us on that vast stage – what are we going to do?’ However I felt like we might replenish the area. We designed my set so it has this fairly cinematic, large sound. It was extremely stunning to play there. It should be some of the epic venues I’ve ever performed, this large area within the mountains. I really feel just like the magic is already there; you simply should go along with it.”
Dwell, it’s so vital that the music will get to be stretchy and occurs within the second
The cinematic aspect of her profession – composing for The Final Kingdom TV sequence and the God Of Warfare Ragnarök videogame – has helped deliver new faces to her exhibits. That’s the place she feels her music actually thrives. “Dwell, it’s so vital to me that every thing is natural, and that the music will get to be stretchy and occurs within the second.
“I don’t ever use backing tracks or click on tracks or something like that as a result of I need to play with the musicians and really feel their vitality. It’s so vital for me to maintain that magic the place a track is allowed to vary from night time to nighttime. You come to this one present, and also you’ll by no means hear the identical present once more.”
The writing course of for Enn began two and a half years in the past, so how did she know when the music was able to be launched into the world? “I feel you simply really feel it,” she displays. “You are feeling one thing is lacking till it’s not lacking any extra and you are feeling it’s full: ‘Now it has the form and the sound, the build-ups and the drop downs, and all of the little particulars I lengthy for.’
“However I don’t suppose something is admittedly completed till I’m going out and play it dwell. Then I really feel it’s not mine any extra as a result of I’m giving it away to individuals. I’m sharing it, and that’s when it’s full.”
Enn might have been born from stillness, however Eivør is craving to see how audiences transfer to the music. “To take these songs I’ve labored with for thus a few years within the studio, and convey them out to individuals and dig into them dwell, that’s the magic. I’m hoping to see individuals dance and be free.”
