Árný Margrét is a 20 year old singer-songwriter from the Westfjords of Iceland. Born and raised in a small town called Ísafjörður, she attended a music school from the age of six learning to play the piano. When she was 14 she got her first guitar and spent hours and days in her bedroom teaching herself to play it, slowly reaching the confidence to write her own music.
Her music and lyrics paint beautiful and yet painful images inspired by her personal experiences and surroundings. Through her music one can almost experience how it is to live in an isolated place, surrounded by tall mountains that block the sun for a few months every year. Her music can best be described as indie folk and although Árný Margrét clearly has a sound of her own, she draws influence from the likes of Adrianne Lenker, Aldous Harding and fellow Icelander Ásgeir.
Árný is currently recording her debut album at studio Hljóðriti in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.
FACTS:
1: I eat like an 11 year old.
2: My left thumb is smaller than the other.
3: I used to do competitive swimming.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
There are a lot of things that inspire my music, the artists that I listen to, songs and lyrics, the weather, people, conversations and experiences. It can basically be everything, the music is me and what is around me.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
what it was about, I thought more about lyrics and started to find music that I liked. I took inspiration from that and tried to write on my own,I didn’t do well in the beginning but I just kept going. I think it worked out pretty well.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Favourite albums of all time, that’s a hard question, ‘cause often I get stuck listening to one song.
But I have a few albums that I can listen to in whole.
Adrianne Lenker-a-sides
Andy Shauf-The Bearer of Bad News
Gregory Alan Isakov- Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony
Bon Iver-Blood Bank
Aldous Harding-Designer
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
My good friends, Risa and Ryosuke from my folk high school in Denmark live in Berlin at the moment, that’s my only connection to Berlin as for right now. I’ve never been there myself. But Risa took the cover photo on my EP and Ryosuke painted all the paintings in the background so it’s a nice connection.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Favourite place in my town is either the road that is right by the sea where you feel really close to the mountains, or my bedroom where I usually make all my songs. But I just like walking around a bit, there are a lot of beautiful places near me.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I don’t know what I would do if there wasn’t any music, it’s everything to me. I used to do dance, but that requires music as well. This is a hard one…
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
It was a record for the studio, Masterpiece by Big Thief.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Every musician that I love basically.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
I did a gig in Toronto last December,the people that came were music lovers and they really took me in, that was such a nice one. Also the Airwaves gig in Fríkirkan, Reykjavik. My first big gig and a really good one, felt so good to do.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology isn’t really a big part of my process, I usually just sit down with a guitar and write down the lyrics. But I listen to music and read on my phone so that can be a part of it too.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
Yes, I got 3 siblings, I think they feel good about it. All this that has been happening lately is just as weird to them as it is to me, but they support me.
