I really didn't know much about Mafama before spending some quality time with their music after they were added to the line-up of Iceland Airwaves 2014.

They are a quirky blend of many different influences. They have also made a staggeringly odd and pretty disturbing (in a good way, I think) video for their song "Sonny", which you can see below. What is more, it's an excellent song that I finally fell in love with around 4:10, you'll see (well, hear) what I mean.

Hello Mafama! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hello! I'm  taking a ride with my best friends.

Who is in the band?

The band is comprised of four male human specimens,  Árni is a mountain, Victor is a sorcerer, Þórgnýr is a devil and Toggi is a wise old man.

Your sound is pretty hard to categorise, there's a lot going on! The Iceland Airwaves site describes it as "A ride through the Chocolate factory and beyond". What do they mean by that?

Tough question, our sound is in part shaped by our tools but also by the fact we can be serious and goofy at the same time. There is also the element of surprise, in Mafama there is no "default" and our music often takes unexpected turns pretty quickly. 

And where does your name come from, why did you choose it?

The name is from Victor's subconscious, a message delivered straight to him from a dream.

You are hoping to fund your debut album via crowd-sourcing on KarolinaFund. Are you hoping the showcase that Airwaves provides will really help with that?

The timing is very much a coincidence since the album was scheduled to be out much sooner, but it can't hurt to get the festival exposure.

What should we expect from your show? And why should people choose it over everything else that will be going on at the same time?

Expect the unexpected, we are a fairly new band and believe we have something fresh to bring to the table, we've been working hard and are super stoked about the Airwaves show.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

Lots of exciting stuff going on… standing tall are: The Knife, Gísli Pálmi, Caribou, Kimono, The Flaming Lips, Grísalappalísa, War on Drugs, Nolo and many, many more.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Firstly, we advise you not to miss you our show and second, don’t talk about volcanoes.

You can catch Mafama playing live as follows:

Friday 7th, Húrra @ 20:30

Saturday 8th, Lucky Records @ 14:00