Einarindra makes that certain sort of smooth electronic music with a synth sound that I can’t get enough of. He’s been getting good attention over the last couple of years from Iceland and beyond for his two E.P.s “Stories” and “Unravel” which are both well worth checking out. I actually decided to finally try to get a feature with Einar after seeing, listening to, and enjoying a mixtape he put together for Under The Radar again which showcased some is his earlier influences.  It’s pretty clear that Einar is a master of making music, and selecting music, that I’m going to want to hear late at night.

I had a chat with Einar ahead of his 5 shows at Airwaves this year.

Hi! Where are you and what are you doing?

I´m at home in my small room where my studio is in Reykjavík, well actually in Kópavogur which is kind of a part of Reykjavík.

Last year your EP “Stories” got some amazing reviews. And a few months ago we got your follow up, “Unravel” – did you feel any pressure after such good reviews last year? And how would you compare the two records?

Well no not really, I felt pretty confident in that I was evolving my sound a bit and was excited about the tracks but at the same time these tracks are more dark and emotional, written after going through some tough times so I didn´t really try to promote them so much but I needed to get them out there though just to be able to start working on something else and put these behind me. So to compare those two records I would have to say that the second one is in similar territory but I´ve evolved a bit both lyrically and musically, I think at least. But right now I´m just really looking forward to finishing new stuff and having time to do that which will hopefully happen early next year.

I loved the mixtape you did for Under The Radar recently. Was that selection a pretty good insight into some of your influences? Or just a bunch of tunes you grew up loving?

The mixtape represented music that I loved when I was like 14-20 and of course still love. It was also my gateway from hip hop into loving a more diverse type of music. So these days it´s not a direct influence but this music is definitely  embedded in my soul and thus indirectly influences what I do and it was such a lovely moment to revisit these albums and check out the artists and labels and what they are up to these days. I also feel it´s more of a sacred thing to listen to these old vinyl records then just pulling them of Spotify or something.

I’d love to know what acts you are most keen to see at Airwaves this year – can you give me 5 must-see artists?

There is a ton of music I´m really excited to see both the Icelandic ones and those coming from oversees, unfortunately I will probably not have much time for seeing them but I´ll also try to just go randomly to somewhere and see something, that´s part of the nice feeling of Airwaves that you can basically go see anything and there is a very good change it is something very interesting. But if I have to name five it´s Benjamin Clementine, Mura Masa, Tusks, Deep Throat Choir, the Möller records showcase and so many, many more.

Finally, do you have any advice for people attending Airwaves or visiting Iceland for the first time?

People coming here should spend as much time as they can to enjoy the music, you can be engrossed in music 24/7 during Airwaves cause there is so many off venue airwaves as well. This music festival has tons of good music and if you have the time try to check out as many as you can. I wouldn’t expect to be going for other touristy things during those few days cause you´ll missed out on the festival, but if you are going to stay longer then go north for my hometown Húsavík, see some whales, protest the new factory there, go to Ásbyrgi, Dettifoss, Mývatn and swim in the Icelandic sea – there is a chance you´ll encounter a whale there, happened to me once!

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So, here are your chances to catch Einarindra at Iceland Airwaves 2017…

Thursday November 2nd, 10:30pm at Húrra

Friday November 3rd, 5:30pm at 12 Tónar

Saturday November 4th, 2:00pm at Viking Brewery

Saturday November 4th, 8:00pm at Iðnó

Sunday November 5th, 3:30pm at Kaffibarinn