Árstíðir (IS)

About

Also known as: Arstidir

Vocal harmony is the heartbeat of Árstíðir, the Reykjavík band where every member sings. Built around a core of guitar and baritone guitar, and later expanded with cello, piano, and violin, they carve out a space somewhere between indie folk rock and chamber pop, with a classically inflected sensibility running through everything they do. They run their own label, Nivalis, in Iceland, and have stayed independent throughout their career. They broke through to a global audience in 2013 when a video of them performing an impromptu a cappella rendition of Heyr himna smiður, a 13th century Icelandic hymn, at a train station in Wuppertal, Germany went viral. Their third studio album, Hvel, came together through a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 and was released in 2015. They have also collaborated with Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen on the album Verloren Verleden.