Iceland’s brightest new musical star-beam brings dreamy, mystical and playful spookiness – from her imagination in another dimension – to planet Earth.
When I went to Secret Solstice in Iceland last year, I was told to check out a young new Icelandic singer/artist who, in her self-made music video, drives into space and rides a ten-legged guinea pig on the moon. She played on the Sunday on the main stage and anyone who knew about her was there to watch this little magical pixie perform.
Billed under her Icelandic name, DJ. Flugvél og Geimskip, she played on the same stage as Massive Attack, which was a huge stage that took up the width expanse of the football stadium where it was placed. She stood on the centre of the stage, half hidden behind a small deck-stand draped with long golden tinsel, looking like an awkward fairy from the future, lost at an 80s school disco.
Even though her set up was small, her presence filled the stage. She sang in Icelandic, I couldn’t understand the lyrics but it didn’t matter. In between the songs she mystically told us tales in English of what the songs were about; fun and poetic recounts of mysteries, dreams and dangers of the night. On top of the deck-stand was a keyboard, a drum machine, her own light show coming out of a plastic ball and her own tiny smoke machine. She pressed the smoke machine button whenever she felt like it, usually when her voice hit an incredibly high note, which was in itself a dramatic effect (imagine Kate Bush and a Japanese Geisha merging in Icelandic). With the little dragon puff of smoke, it twisted my mind even further. When she sang I got the feeling she could have been anywhere, totally oblivious to the people in front of her, she was just having fun exploring her voice and the music and letting it come through her.
In May she will release her new album ‘Nótt á Hafsbotni’ (‘Night at the Bottom of the Ocean‘). Music from the dream-time, it explores under the ocean (whilst her last album ‘Glamúr í Geimnum’ was about exploring space). Musically, she describes her music as ‘electronic horrormusic with a space twist’. Her rhythms dance with themselves whilst mixing with playful techno, playful tribal, dramatic basslines and tripped out melodies and sounds. And her voice goes really, really high.
I am pretty sure Airplane & Spaceship was dropped off on this planet from another galaxy far, far away, to bring magic, music, mystery and fun to our ears, hearts and minds. She sounds like an Aphex Twin fairy from another dimension and, to me, is a true artist exploring the realms of creation. You feel happy when you listen to her, even happier when you see her live. Even when she goes into the darkness, she somehow channels it to the light for us all to feel and hear.
Check the Cosmic Pineapple interview below:
Where does your name come from?
I do not remember how the name came about in the beginning, but I started playing out as a DJ – under my Icelandic name DJ. Flugvél og Geimskip – between bands at gigs. In the end I had enough music to be one of the acts, because what I DJ-ed was my own music. But now I am not a DJ anymore so I am trying to get rid of it. It is a problem when I play abroad because I don’t get soundchecks and stuff like other bands because they think I’m a DJ. So now I am Airplane & Spaceship. I love airplanes and spaceships because they take you away from mundane everyday life, just like music does.
Tell us one of your most bizarre dreams
?
One of the most bizarre dreams is when I meet my friends in dreams; next day I ask them and they all remember the same dream. In the dream we meet on the top floor (the attic). There are bed sheets hanging everywhere, we are in a hurry and need to hide but must stay together and we run through the white sheets. I also had a strange dream about meeting aliens on a high mountain. And I love lucid dreaming – then I meet all the people I would like to talk to but don’t know well enough.
Can you explain the concept of your album? It is your second album?
The new album is the second album I make that’s taken seriously, I guess, but it is number six. My last album was about space exploration and the new one is about the deep ocean. They are connected because when I was exploring the deep space in my mind I found that it is the same as the deep ocean. Just as black and endless, with infinite possibilities. And the sea creatures that glow on the bottom of the ocean are just as alien as aliens, and they are the same.
The new CD is mostly influenced by the dark endless winter nights in Iceland. I went out to the countryside to a small cottage to make it. I was going to make a happy summer CD, but then I got so scared, being alone in the darkness with the freezing cold outside and ghost stories in the radio, that all the songs ended up being very dark.
What instruments did you use to make it?
I use MPC 1000, SP 404, Yamaha, Casio, and bass synths. Also reverb, distortion pedals, space ekko, crystal vine glasses for deep bass and beautiful sounds, frozen ice water from the lake near to the house in the countryside, KAOSS PAD and also a home made glass piano.
Where do you think your music comes from?
It is strange to make music because I don’t feel like I am making it – I just start recording and playing some beats, bass and make melodies – it is like it already exists and I am just tuning into it. When I sing, I sing lyrics that I have no idea where they come from – they always just follow the music. And then it is ready. I read somewhere about Tchaikovsky, that he got shot when he was a child. The bullet was made of steel and it got stuck in his head – and every time he tilted his head, he started hearing music and melodies. It is a mystery.
When and how did you start making music?
I have always made music. I started recording at five when I got my first cassette recorder. In school I started having concerts on a hill outside during the lunch break, singing for the other kids. Then I got an 8-track recorder at 13 and started making more complicated music.
Who were your musical inspirations growing up?
My musical inspiration when growing up came from my parents. They’d been punks and listened to punk music and also what was new at the time, like 808 State. They also listened to exotic music from the 60’s like Martin Denny and Yma Sumac.
Tell us about your white fluffy dog?
The fluffy dog is a Pomeranian. It is such a cute dog! It looks just like a toy dog – not a real dog. And it also walks like a robot. And Pomeranians never grow big they are always very small, cute and fluffy and like robots. They are just so strange looking – I couldn’t believe this was a real animal when I first saw a Pomeranian dog. I wonder a lot about the difference between animals and robots and I love animals that are like robots, and machines that come close to being alive. It is really exciting to see what the future will bring regarding this.
A cosmic fact you would like to share:
‘
The vastness of the universe is only constricted by the imagination.’
What does the word ‘cosmic’ mean to you?
Cosmic can be anything – I’m not sure I know what cosmic is… but it sounds like space, stars and possibilities. To me it is the never-ending vastness and possibilities of space and mind as well as the connections between everything huge and tiny.
If you could do one thing to make the world a better place, what would you do?
Just add more to it. If we would take away all bad things we wouldn’t have as good stories and such deep feelings. It sounds good to take away injustice but then we would always be able to figure out what happens next, so it would be boring.
Worries are bad but if we didn’t have them we might all be dead. I have no idea what is best to do.
Your words of wisdom?
The happiest man is the one who has the funniest thoughts 
Airplane & Spaceship ‘Nótt á Hafsbotni’ is out soon in Iceland. Check www.djflugveloggeimskip.com
She performs and Secret Solstice, Iceland, between June 19th-21st – tickets HERE
This post was written by Kim Booth