S​í​renur by Kælan Mikla from the album Undir K​ö​ldum Nor​ð​urlj​ó​sum

Draumadís by Kælan Mikla as featured on the Artoffact Records 2019 sampler, taken from the album Nótt eftir nótt

Fjallað um myrkrið og fegurð þess//Discussing the darkness and its beauty

Stefán Þór Hjartarson 

20. júlí 2016 09:30 (myndatexti) Kælan mikla hefur sent frá sér sína fyrstu plötu sem nefnist einfaldlega Kælan mikla og fæst einungis í stafrænu formi og á vínyl eins og er.

Er þetta fyrsta platan ykkar?„Þetta er fyrsta breiðskífan – við höfum sent frá okkur litla útgáfu áður, við gáfum út 50 geisladiska þar sem við gerðum til dæmis sjálfar hulstrin og svona. Síðan höfum við gefið út á netinu, plötu sem er bara á Bandcamp. Þetta er fyrsta alvöru útgáfan sem við gerum í gegnum útgáfufyrirtæki.“

Er löng vinna bak við plötuna? „Ekkert rosalega – við sömdum allt efnið sem er á plötunni á innan við ári, þetta eru átta lög og við tókum þetta upp sjálfar, við fórum ekki í stúdíó heldur gerðum við þetta í stofunni hjá Sólveigu syntha-leikara hljómsveitarinnar og vinur okkar tók upp. Það tók okkur mánuð að gera það en bara tvö upptöku-sessjon – það var erfitt að finna lausan tíma, það var aðallega það.“

Eru einhver þemu eða sérstök umfjöllunarefni á plötunni?„Þemað á þessari plötu er svolítið mikið myrkrið og það hvað myrkrið er fallegt.“

Nú voruð þið nýlega að ljúka rosalegum Evróputúr – hvernig var það? „Það var alveg magnað. Við fórum til tíu borga – keyrðum 3.000 kílómetra og spiluðum sjö gigg ef ég man rétt: fjögur í Þýskalandi, síðan í Slóvakíu og Varsjá í Póllandi. Það var allt öðruvísi en að spila hérna heima – það er komið mikið betur fram við mann, fólk hefur meiri áhuga. Maður er alltaf að spila á sömu stöðunum heima, þetta er náttúrulega svo lítið – en á meðan maður er úti fær maður borgað og mat og gistingu og manni er sýnd meiri virðing. Það er svolítið þannig hérna heima að maður á að vera þakklátur fyrir að fá að spila – auðvitað ekki alltaf en oft. Voru ekki einhver vandræði með staðsetninguna á útgáfutónleikunum ykkar? „Þetta átti að vera í rými úti á Granda hjá vini okkar sem heitir Kenneth – hann hefur t.d. verið að halda goth-partí þar og er flottur tónlistarmaður. En síðan fór lögreglan að blanda sér í málið og segja að það mætti ekki hafa tónleika þarna og að þeir myndu kippa úr sambandi ef við gerðum það. Þeir töluðu við Kenneth og fóru að skipta sér af en ég veit ekki hvernig þeir sáu að við ætluðum að vera þar. En við færðum þetta á síðustu stundu á Gaukinn – sem er voða næs, Gaukurinn er fínn staður. Upphitunin er í höndum vinar okkar sem tók upp plötuna, hann heitir Arnar Már – hann spilar með nýju „projecti“ sem hann er að gera sem heitir Kuldaboli. Hann gerir rosalega flotta dark og minímalíska syntha-tónlist. Það er mjög viðeigandi vegna þess að hann tók upp allt efnið okkar. Hann hefur áður verið að spila undir nafninu Ultraorthodox en núna er hann að spila nýtt efni undir nýju nafni. Platan kom út 30. júní á Bandcamp þar sem er hægt að hala henni niður á 1.000 krónur. Síðan er hún til í versluninni Lucky Records á Rauðarárstíg á vínyl – þær stefna á að koma plötunni út á geisladisk einhvern tímann eftir sumarið. Útgáfutónleikarnir fara fram á Gauknum næstkomandi laugardagskvöld.

Enska:

(caption) Kælan Mikla have released their first album which is named simply Kælan Mikla and has only been released in digital form and on vinyl at the moment.

Is this y’all’s first album?”This is the first LP- we have put out a small release before, we have published 50 CDs, since we made, for example, the cases ourselves and such. Since we have put it out on the internet, the album is just on Bandcamp. This is the first  serious release that we made through a label.

Is there a lot of work behind the album? Nothing extreme- we wrote all of the material that is on the album within the year, it is eight songs and we recorded it ourselves, we didn’t got to a studio, instead we recorded this in the living with Sólveig playing synth for the band and our friends recorded. It took us a month to do it but only two recording sessions- it was difficult to find free time, it was especially that”

Is there some kind of theme or particular topic for the album?”The theme for this album is a little bit of the great darkness and how the darkness is beautiful.”

Now you recently finished a tremendous tour of Europe- how was that?“It was totally intense. We went to ten cities- drove 3,000 kilometers and played seven gigs if I remember right: four in Germany, then in Slovakia and Warsaw in Poland.  It was completely different than playing here at home- people treat you better and people have more interest. You always play at the same places in Iceland, it is naturally so small- but when a person goes out you get paid and food and lodging and people show more respect. It is a little like at home, in Iceland, people should be thankful for getting to play- of course not always but often.”

Was there not some trouble with placement of your release concert?“It was supposed to be in a space out in Granadi with our friend named Kenneth- he has, for example, held a goth party there and is a great musician. But since then the cops went and got involved in the matter, and say that there can’t be any concerts there and they would break it up if we did,”They talked with Kenneth and started messing around but I don’t know how they knew that we were going to be there. So instead we went to The Cuckoo which is really nice, The Cuckoo is a great place. “The warm up is in the control of our friend who recorded the album, he’s called Arnar Már- he plays with a new ‘project’ which he is doing called Kuldaboli. He does really dark and minimalist synth-music. It’s really appropriate because he recorded all our material. He has performed before under the name Ultraorthadox but now he is making new material under a new name.”

The album comes out on 30.June on Bandcamp where it can be downloaded for 1.000kr. It is for sale at the store Lucky Records on Rauðarárstíg available on vinyl- they aim for the album to come out on CD some time after the summer. The release show will be held at The Cuckoo next Saturday evening

[ID: from left to right: Laufey, Sólveig and Margrét, standing in a concrete alley, well lit and whitish gray, framed by the light in the street with an industrial-looking arch-window over them. Laufey wears a short, ¾ sleeve black dress and black tights. Sólveig has on what appears to be a leopard print crop top and a black skirt, with sheer-ish black tights and patent leather goth-boots. Margrét wears a black turtleneck and tight fitting black pants, with a simple chain choker on, probably courtesy of @Habebyheba. ]

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