There’s no doubt that Icelandic sextet Amiina are an intriguing bunch.
Most recently, they delighted regular visitors to their website with an ‘advent calendar’ featuring, amongst other things, new musical snippets, videos of snow, recipes for Christmas treats, and a tale about an Icelandic “santa’ essentially known as “Potlicker” … and if you must know where that’s going, then perhaps you’d best visit the site yourself.
Such diversity, eclecticism and eccentricity is hardly surprising though. Amiina’s musical output reveals a similarly broad range of influences and interests, as recently confirmed in conversation with Magnús Eliassen, Amiina’ drummer – otherwise known as Maggi. It’s not hard to get a direct answer out of Maggi, nor a few witticisms either.
“The music that Amiina makes is not at all like the music I listen to – West African music, jazz – but I am certainly influenced by this music. My drumming has been described as ‘Oriental’ although I have no idea what that really means! People also pick up on the African drumming rhythms in my playing at times – and yet Amiina as a group is obviously producing something completely different to this. And of course, there are diversities and commonalities shared in our musical tastes. I am also very interested in what the other members are doing themselves, so I am influenced by how they are playing and their own attitude to music – this is just as much of an influence on me as anything.”
In spite of such an apparently democratic approach to music making, Maggi admits that it was a challenge when he first joined Amiina, originally established as a string quartet in the late 1990s who playing as the string section for Sigur Ros amongst other endeavours. The group presently consists of the quartet members (Edda, Hildur, MarÃa and Sólrún) as well as the newest members Maggi and Kippi Kaninus who joined in 2009.
“When I started playing with ‘the girls’ I had some trouble trying to find distinctive or unusual ways of playing the drums to make sure that it worked with the existing sound. What I am playing even now is not really conventional or easy drumming – it’s actually really very unconventional, even weird at times. But I am happy behind the drums, I would NEVER let the girls play the drums … they are shit!” laughs Maggi. “Thankfully we are all very happy smiley people and the Australian audiences can expect to see five people enjoying each other’ company when they come to see Amiina.”
With that reassuring thought in mind, it’s good to know that Amiina’s willingness to try new ideas in performance, instrumentation and writing binds them together rather than becoming a tool for division as is so often evident in other groups. Maggi reflects on the alternate group formations and guest members that Amiina have had in recent performances, noting that this has been healthy for the band and an opportunity for growth, improvisation, and for just “trying something new”.
With respect to the most current “something new”, Amiina hope to perform at least three new songs at their gigs in Australia, although Maggi says he’d like to bring at least one more, “totally fresh music”. These new songs are part of Amiina’ latest body of writing and recording, and the band will be looking to follow up the acclaimed Puzzle album of 2010 with their third album that is currently slated for release sometime in late 2012.
When asked about the present direction of Amiina and whether the group is going to essentially stay in the field of minimalistic/ambient sounds or choose more divergent musical pathways, Maggi ponders for a second and then replies. “We have actually been talking a bit about this topic, and we are not going to decide on what to do really, we are just going to write some songs, and if they don’ fit together then we’ll just write some more. We’ll see what happens. If it’s going to be a pop hit, well I don’t know – but it might be easier to listen to, or it might be free improvisatory music and be more difficult to listen to. I can say that the music we’ve been writing is not the same as the songs on Puzzle – but it is in a similar vein to what we’ve been playing the last couple of years.”
Not only will these highly anticipated live performances provide an insight into Amiina’s newest musical journeys, but these shows will also provide an excellent counterpoint to Amiina accompanying the Lotte Reiniger animated films that are to be screened at The Famous Speigeltent as part of the 2012 Sydney Festival. Considered to be one of the foremost creators in the field of animation, Reiniger produced over 60 films, and those selected to be screened at the Sydney Festival are Cinderella (1954), Sleeping Beauty (1954) and Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (1954).
Commissioned in 2009 to initially write soundtracks as a new accompaniment for a small selection of the delicate silhouette-based silent films, Amiina have found this part of their repertoire has continued to gain in popularity and interest. Having viewed a video of the 2009 performance in London of the Cinderella soundtrack, it is not hard to see why – the gentle minimalist pulse married with soaring motifs and a consistently beautiful tone and timbre entrances the viewer, drawing them to the amazing visual display provided by Reiniger’s highly inventive animation.
“I think that this time when we perform the soundtracks, our performances will be somehow more dramatic, with greater breadth, as the original performances were played by three of us only, but this time there will be five of us playing – bringing different instrumentation and musical interests,” says Maggi. When asked what their music can say about the fairy tales depicted where the film medium might be limited or fall short, Maggi replies, “the music is ‘nicer’; more gentle than the brutal undertones to the fairy tales. The music compensates for the sentiments and intents of the stories – and in a way, the music serves to ‘make the white bright’, to truly contrast and complement the black of the silhouettes.”
And as for the array of quirky and atypical instruments that Amiina bring to each and every performance (amongst the list being glassophones, bells, melodicas, saws and improvised home-made instruments), Maggi notes that they are not always treated well at airports due to their unusual luggage. “In fact, I think we annoy a lot of people, quite a lot. But at least we are not bringing a Gamelan, although we tried one recently in Ireland. Now that would be a nice to have,” quips Maggi. Well, bring it on I say.
Amiina play the Famous Spiegeltent from January 24-26 and the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith on January 27, both as part of Sydney Festival.
