Following the release of last years lauded Bury The Moon album and successful world tour, Ásgeir is returning with his new EP, The Sky Is Painted Gray Today.
Latest single On The Edge is about a man who’s away from his lover and looking for a gift to bring home with him. Ásgeir paints an affectionate and romantic picture of the landscapes and the space between his two leads, one that pulls at heartstrings as the track builds gracefully.
The four textured, original tracks that make up The Sky Is Painted Gray Today have been long gestating, and were recorded for the most part in 2019 in Hljodriti and tweaked over the last few months.
They mark something of a return to the artists deep roots, working once again with his father on their poetic Icelandic lyrics, as well as enlisting the likes of John Grant and Pétur Ben for the translations, a writing relationship that worked to great effect on his debut.
A more stripped back approach was taken when putting these new songs together. There’s an understated potency to tracks like Sister and On The Edge, a sense that even in their simplicity, we are in the presence of a master craftsman, humbly, at his best.
The EP also includes the miraculous story Sunday Drive, a lyrical retelling of a car accident Ásgeir experienced in his youth.
“Sunday Drive was written about a car accident I had when I was 7 years old.” he shared. “Every Sunday me and my family used to drive on top of a mountain close to the town where we lived and then get out of the car, walk around and enjoy the view.
“On the day of the accident my older sister was allowed to take pictures on a new camera that my mom and dad had recently bought but they didn’t trust me with it so I got upset and stayed in the car while they went out to take pictures.
“While I was upset waiting in the car I started playing with the gear shift and handbrake and suddenly the car started moving. It flew down the hill and flipped around a few times and was completely destroyed when it stopped. I crawled out pretty much uninjured, only needing four stitches on my head.”
Ásgeir’s debut album Dýrð í dauðaþögn was released in 2012 and was the best-selling debut record ever in Iceland. The English language edition, In The Silence released in 2014 connected with an entirely new audience. Here in Australia, it was spotlighted as triple j Feature Album and both the album and its lead single King and Cross achieved gold ARIA accreditation.
The artist followed this with the introspective, emotive folktronica of Afterglow in 2017. Last year saw the release of Ásgeir’s Bury The Moon.
Source: Media Release
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