Örvar´s exclusive interview for A Letter For The Stars

Only few days after returning from the recording of what it will be their new album, A Letter For The Stars has had the chance to get the first interview of the icelandic band. We kept in touch with Örvar and it bacame in a interesting and amazing talk (Versión en español):

Hello Orvar! How are you?
- Good. Like a goat.

I suppose that you can be really tired after the trecording of the new album, could you tell me something about it?
- More mentally ill than tired. It´s a very involving album, so it is very easy to get lost in it.

Will your next album be a continuation of the styles explored on "Summer Make Good"?
- Maybe in someways, but I couldn´t really say that. It would feel like lying. You will hear. I hope.

Can you tell me something about the "Peel Session"?
- It´s a radio session recorded in the amazing bbc studios. We were very tired when we played the session and it turned into something close to sleepwalking. We had played in barcelona the night before and the city was full of fireworks and shouting and laughing, but we had to fly straight to london. But, it came out very well. We played three or four songs from "Yesterday was dramatic" which we hadn´t really been playing. It was also one of the last times Gyða played with us.

In which ways has your music changed since your first album?
- Hmmmmm.... it just keeps going in circles, but maybe just faster and faster. I don´t mean to say that the music is faster (maybe it is, maybe it´s not) I´m trying to say the circles go faster.

Did the feelings that you have on different moments decide the mood of your albums?
- But of course.

Do you think in terms of individual melodies, or do you conceptualize a whole song at once?
- Neither. It´s more like turning on a faucet or a garden hose.

Undoubtedly you refuse to play the game that the majority of the bands play...do you realise that you have create your own sound?
- We don´t refuse to play any game, we just play it a little different. It´s not cheating, just being creative. We always try and play with our own rules, sometimes making them up as we go.

What about the new bands who mention you as their biggest influence?
- That´s nice of them. Who said that?


I can imagine very different feelings when listening to your songs,Which non-musical things can influence Mum´s music?
- Films, dreams, food, smells, moments, emotiona short circuiting, misunderstandings, understandings, hallucinations, nasal hairs, guilt, beauty, old
people, old cars, photographs and postcards.

Spanish TV "TVE" is using "Green grass of tunnel" on its autopromotional spot (it´s sounds around 100 times a day), what do you think about using your song in commercials?
- We don´t let our music to be used for commercials. It is not fair to the listeners and it is not fair to the music. There are to many commercials anyway, it is getting very boring. Maybe people who make commercials should go and do something more interesting with their lives.


Your music can translate to a very different landscapes, what about making a soundtrack?
- Sure. That sounds good. Let´s make a soundtrack to a film. We have done theater music and radio theater and we have done soundtracks to old silent films, so it would be a great next step to make a soundtrack to a film. Scoring films is quite a bit different to making albums, but it would fit us like a glove.


Could you tell me some of your own musical influences?
-Jimi Hendrix and the Smiths. Together. Also the Mills Brothers.

Could you name a singer or band that you really enjoy listening to, but would surprise other people if they knew you liked them?
- I don´t know. I really don´t know what would surprise people. Really loud birdsounds are good. Is that surprising?


Is it difficult for you to play your songs on live shows?
- No, but it is fun. It is difficult not to play our songs in our live shows.

Are you planning to be on tour next year? What about coming to Spain?(Here in Valencia there are a lot of people waiting
for you)
- Maybe. We love playing in spain, so hopefully we can come. Our album will be out next spring and so maybe we can come then or in the summer.

(Last september I decided to have a little vacation in Valencia, but I didn´t book a hotel and I came very late and there was not a single hotel room available
because there was some sort furniture festival going and I walked around the city for the whole night and I tried to sleep on a park bench, but I couldn´t really and so I left on the first train. I only saw Valencia that one night.)

bless bless,

örvar

That´s the end of the talk with Örvar. Fat Cat Records will release "The Peel Session" on the 4th of December, and the next Spring the new album will be also released. We´re sure that they will continue being one of our favourites.