Electro-folk-pop artist Eivør has announced a digital livestream release concert to celebrate her new album Segl, October 9 via the Nordic House in Torshavn, the capital of her native Faroe Islands. The event will have a socially distanced audience of 100 people in attendance, with a ticketed stream accessible worldwide. The full-band, extensively produced show will see Eivør play fan favorites alongside brand-new material from Segl, which features co-production from Lana Del Rey collaborator Dan Heath and a guest appearance from Ásgeir. Tickets for the digital stream are available here.
Speaking about the forthcoming live-streamed event, Eivør stated, "I have been so sad that I had to postpone my entire album tour to next year due to COVID and I know it must have been a huge disappointment for my fans too. One show that I am able to play is this album release concert at Nordic House on the Faroe Islands. It's a gorgeous venue and the government allows up to 100 people inside the auditorium. I thought I'd share this moment with the world so decided to get this show filmed."
Segl is the follow-up to Eivør's widely-praised 2017 release, Slør, which triggered her debut appearance on Later....With Jools Holland. Eivør soundtracks the current series of Netflix/BBC flagship The Last Kingdom (co-written with Ivor Novello/BAFTA-nominated John Lunn), and her music has previously been synched on Homeland and Game Of Thrones alongside hit video games Metal Gear Survive and God Of War.
Born & raised in Syðrugøta, a tiny community of just over 400 people on one of the northerly Faroe Islands, Eivør grew up surrounded by the windswept landscape of the North Atlantic, a backdrop that has deeply influenced the elemental electronica she creates. Segl - Eivør's ninth album, since releasing her debut at just 17 - builds on these motifs, exploring the journeys we undertake, both metaphorically and physically. The title - meaning "sail" in Faroese - alludes to our desire for growth and direction, and the role of fate. "You have to hoist your own sail," notes Eivør; "but you cannot control the wind."
Eivør immersed herself in music from 13, fronting a trip-hop band after discovering seminal albums by Massive Attack and Portishead. Gigs soon followed, held afloat in rowing boats, in the pitch-black darkness of a huge cave on the island of Hestur. At 16 Eivør quit school, moving alone to Reykjavik to release her debut album and pursue classical singing training. She has since won the Icelandic Music Prize, twice - the first non-Icelandic artist to do so. Such itinerant tendencies have bled into her music, Segl no exception. "My creative process can be very chaotic and abstract, so I need to find the space to dive deeper into it and sculpt it," she says. "After sitting on songs for a year or more, I'd go in and edit the melody or the lyrics. Sometimes the production too. The whole album is very much about change, so it's quite apt." Working closely again with composer/producer Tróndur Bogason (also her husband), the extra space allowed Eivør to explore programming and production more thoroughly than ever before. She pulled apart the writing process, focusing on a free flow of ideas, and enriching collaborations with other writers and producers.
The impetus to seize control of life is writ large across Segl. "Sleep On It" heads off insomnia with stabs of synthesiser and an exhortation for clear-sightedness, whilst "Let It Come" harnesses inner power to deal with whatever life throws your way. Elsewhere, "Mánasegl" counsels in clear terms, taking its title from a Faroese word for "moonsail", the highest sail found on square rigged clippers, and also known as the hope sail. Eivør's working partnership with Golden Globe nominee Heath brings Segl to a spine-tingling conclusion on "Gullspunnin" - with lyrics written by poet Marjun Syderbø Kjælnes and a title meaning "cocooned in gold," it transmits the essence of the islands - as Eivør puts it; "The magic play of light, fog, and astonishing contrasts that are unique to The Faroes". Other collaborations across Segl see Ásgeir accompany on vocals, while Einar Selvik of Wardruna, adds sonorous depth to "Stirdur Saknur." "I wanted to be very playful," says Eivør; "Visiting other people's creative world and inviting them into mine. Something magical happens when two different worlds meet, it expands the space. And it's full of contrast; that's quite interesting to me."
Photo Credit: Sigga Ella
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