Words: Letty Sharp // Photos: Ian Mc Donnell.
Eivør Palasdóttir is a Faroese folk singer born in Syðrugøta. Having her
first televised performance at 13, she continued down the route of music
and has ventured into many genres such as jazz, folk-rock and art pop.
She has been on tour with fellow experimental folk band Heilung and
Lili Refrain. I caught up with Eivør after her set to ask a few questions.
LS- You’ve just performed in Dublin; how does it feel?
EP- Oh my gosh, it was such a beautiful experience. Like I said on stage,
I’ve been dreaming of coming to Ireland to play for a long time so
finally I was here and what a start. It was such a beautiful night, a
beautiful audience and the venue is just mind-blowing, so it was a
beautiful experience.
LS- The venue really is beautiful. For our readers who may have never
heard of you before, how would you describe your music?
EP- Wow yeah, my music is it’s been a journey. I started so young I was
sixteen when I released my first album and the music that I create today
is a mix of genres because I’ve been through a lot of experiments and
journeys on my musical journey, so I guess what I’m
doing today is a mix of my roots in folk music Faroese folk music
which is where it all started for me and then there’s a lot of electronic
elements and rock elements blended in so yeah, it’s some kind of folk
electronic rock pop many words [laughs]
LS- Lots of little subgenres within one. Your album, ‘Segl’, came out in
2020, how was the recording process for that?
EP- Well, it was it was brilliant, it was great. It was that album was for
me maybe the longest process I’ve had on an album because I created it
in a different way than I usually do my albums. I wanted it to be a little
bit more playful with collaborations and stuff so there are a lot of
collaborations with other artists on that album and of course and it was a
bit unfortunate that you know it came out right before the pandemic so
that was a bit of a challenge but it also gave me like new opportunities
and way to connect with my audience through online you know so
it was a really different and special experiment and experience with this
album and yeah. Now I’m working on my next album because it’s
been a while.
LS- Can you tell us any info about that yes or?
EP- Well, I am now, I’ve been touring actually since July last year I’ve
been constantly on the road so, I haven’t had time to do recordings, but I
have all the music wrote in my head and in my drawers and you know so
I’m really excited to go to the studio and make the recordings and I’m
planning to release it early 2024 so I’ll spend this year creating this new
album.
LS- I look forward to hearing it. Who would your biggest musical
influence be?
EP- Wow, there have been so many artists that have influenced me and
inspired me during the years I’ve been creating music if we go to the
beginning I’d say it’s folk world musicians like for example Mari Boine
from Norway and people like Björk of course, Kate Bush and then
there’s a Peruvian singer called Yma Sumac who has really inspired me
vocally and yeah there are very many different things like you know Led
Zeppelin, Leonard Cohen you know that there’s a whole palette of artists
that have inspired me a lot definitely.
LS- There are defiantly some good choices in there. You released your
first album at 16 in the year 2000, what do you think has contributed to
you being in music for so long?
EP- As a young teenager it was always a very strong passion and dream
for me to become a musician, I was never in doubt about that, and I was
like, ‘That’s what I’m gonna do’, and when I released my first album, I
guess I just continued and took the journey and it’s been a long journey,
and in the beginning, it was you know not easy you know to kind of get
out there with your music, but I started touring a bit like just locally in
the Faroe Islands first and then I played some shows in Denmark and
then just slowly it developed into more and more and I guess I’ve always
been a very curious artist and in music I have had this extreme hunger,
forever as long as I can remember to create and to explore and search for
music inside of me and it just an ongoing thing so every time I finish an
album it’s this hunger slowly starts to come back so I guess it’s just
something that has felt natural for me, and I don’t see what else I could
do music is just my call in life I think.
LS- If you could collaborate with any musical artist dead or alive, who
would it be?
EP- Wow, I’D love to sing with Thom Yorke one day.
LS-He is a good choice.
EP- He is one of my favourites, like Radiohead saved my youth I don’t
know I haven’t really thought about that much but yeah that would be a
good one.
LS- Because Radiohead have kind of gone in a new direction with, ‘A
Moon Shaped Pool’
EP- They also have a very experimental and interesting approach to
music, and I’ve always admired for example Radiohead, they’ve been on
like a creative journey that has also changed a lot and that’s what I
believe in as an artist, you have to renew yourself and throw yourself
into the unknown things so you can learn new things.
LS- 2022 has just come to a close, did you have any favourite releases of
the last year or any that you’re looking forward to this year?
EP- I really and I we spoke about Tom York I really enjoyed his
collaboration, and he has a project The Smile I think it was called
The smile and I’ve listened a lot to that album recently um what
else yeah I’m my head is not clear enough right now [laughs] but that
was one of my favourites from last year, I think.
LS- I’ll have to check it out. Is there a story behind, ‘Í Tokuni’, which is
my favourite song by you?
EP- It’s a song I wrote many years ago I think it’s on an album that was
released in 2018 or 17 or something and like I also said tonight on
stage it’s the song that I wrote about an experience I had as a child when
I got lost once upon a mountain. I used to go climbing mountains and
playing out in nature, I was like a nature child and I got lost in the fog
and it was a scary experience and I dwelled there up on this mountain
for hours and hours couldn’t find my way back, and this song is about
you know all the scary things you start to imagine when you’re lost upon
a mountain yeah in the fog and you don’t see anything, and you start
your imagination starts to kick in you imagine all these creatures around
you and yeah, so that’s what the song is about.
LS- Starting your musical career at 13, do you have any advice for
anyone wanting to become a singer or solo artist?
EP- I guess my advice too young artists who are starting off is to believe
in it you know. Just believe it in every moment even when you don’t
believe it just keep believing it and do you know follow your passion, do
the work. It’s going to be hard sometimes, you’re gonna lose your faith in
it and everything but that’s the most important time to keep believing in
it and remember why you wanna do it and everything will be fine, you
should just keep going.
LS- That’s some great advice. Thank you so much for joining me.
EP- Thank you for having me.
