Iceland Airwaves 2012 – Þórir Georg Interview

Þórir Georg is one of my absolute favourite artists of the last decade. He first came to my attention when I bought his album from him at the till of 12 Tónar without realising he was the artist until he picked up his guitar and played an in store set moments later.

That intimate set, with the audience collected around him cross-legged on the floor (photo below), was one of the defining moments of my first Iceland Airwaves that has kept me coming back year after year after year ever since.

That album, I Belive In This, (no typo) was a wonder. The brilliant Outkast cover got a lot of the attention of course, but the album and all of its successors have lived up to the initial talent. His records are charming, varied, affecting and through it all his incredible fragile voice is the constant.

So hit play on this track below from his brand new album out any moment now and have a read of my chat with Þórir.

You know by Thorir Georg

Where are you right now and what are you doing?
Right now I´m sitting on the floor in my living room answering these questions and listening to Asva.

Who is in the band? and how did you come to be together?
Right now its just me. On my own. Maybe at some point there will be others but I play in other bands as well so I kinda like just doing this by myself for the time being.

When you play your show there will be at least 4 or 5 other acts playing – why should people come and see you?
Well, honestly? Because I´m good.

In your wildest dreams, who would you most like to see at the front of the crowd at your show?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky because I´m right in the middle of re-reading Crime and Punishment and I would like to tell him I think he did a fantastic job with that one.

What else are you keen to see at Airwaves this year?
Swans are probably the band that I´ve been the most excited about seeing as far back as I can remember. An of course there are a lot of Icelandic acts that are always great.

Can you pass on some tips for first timers at Airwaves and in Iceland?
Take it easy, have a good time and don´t worry about it.. Icelanders are like that to everyone.

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You can see Þórir as follows:

Friday 2nd November at 5pm in the 12 Tonar store inside Harpa.

Saturday 3rd at 3pm in the Icewear store on Þingholtsstræti.

Saturday 3rd at 5:30pm in Bar 11.

and his main festival show, also on Saturday 3rd at 9:40pm in Amsterdam.