Diandra Interviews Ásgeir: A Man Ready To Bury The Moon

In 2020, Ásgeir will release Bury The Moon, and, on December 4, his new single “Lazy Giants.” It is a record that expands his ambient feel like a man going from singing to the stars to singing for the moon. Yet, the irony is that this record may solidify Ásgeir as a singer-songwriter whose music encompasses beauty, but it was “back to basics” for him. In out interview, he discusses how growing his sound was not about over-thinking as much as simply playing. 

Diandra: You have said you wanted your newest album to “grow you.” How do you feel it pushed you as an artist and as a songwriter?

Ásgeir: I just went back to basics on this album pretty much. I started thinking about how the melodies and lyrics are what makes a good song and not some production and processing work. Although I played on most of the instruments on the record I also let more people put their own flavour on the songs and I felt much freer. I tried to listen to the music from a bigger perspective and not get crazy about every single little detail. 

Ásgeir – Lifandi Vatnið (The Day After Session)

Diandra: What differences can we expect compared to your previous releases?

Ásgeir: I think the album goes back a little bit to the place where I started. It partly consists of new songs but also many old song ideas that I never finished. I’ve never put as much of myself into a record I think and I’m very glad to feel like I’m getting more comfortable with that. 

Diandra: What tracks do you feel most embody how you have changed?

Ásgeir: I feel like I’m always changing, but the songs I am most happy about on the record are songs like “Youth”, “Living Water” and “Bury the Moon”. But I feel like the whole process of recording was much easier than on the last record, and I think I put much more of some good and real emotion into it.
Ásgeir – Bernskan (Official Acoustic Version)

Diandra: What made you choose the title “Bury The Moon” and if you could bury the moon, where would you bury it?

Ásgeir: (hehe) Well, the title is just like this mystical, unimaginable thing. It comes from the title of the last song that was made for the album. That song is about a guy that has done all these unimaginable things for his lover but nothing seems to be good enough.

Diandra: As a bilingual artist, what do you find is the most exciting and hardest part about translating a message or a feeling into two languages?

Ásgeir: It can be very fun process, I’ve tried having other people translate lyrics for me, but I think it was much more fun now because I did a lot of it on my own. It can be difficult, sometimes, to find words that have the same meaning in Icelandic as they have in English. But it’s also the combination of finding the words that mean the same thing and to have the lyric flow naturally at the same time. That doesn’t always come very easily. Usually, the words and the meaning come quickly but then getting it to flow and sound well with the song can take some more time.

Diandra: Most people assume, living in Iceland, that its beauty must inspire your ambient sound. What is one location in Iceland you go to often or you feel could be made into a song?

Ásgeir: Many places could be made into songs, and many places have already been made songs about. But I always think about my home area in the northwest side of Iceland, it doesn’t have as much obvious beauty to it as maybe some other places have like, in the south of the country, for example, but I have a special bond to the area and my family is there. 
Ásgeir – Afterglow (Official Audio Stream)

Diandra: Your music has been described as atmospheric and peaceful. What do you do to find inner peace?

Ásgeir: I like to go out in the countryside, when I can, because things seem to move a bit slower there and the air is fresher. I don’t do it as much as I should though because I live in Reykjavik and work there, but I do think that there is easier to find some inner peace there. I guess I’ve always been quite calm and easy-going and I try to not complicate my life more than you have to. 
Ásgeir – Youth (Official Music Video)

Diandra: With your first single being called “Youth,” how would you describe your youth and what artists most influenced you in that era?

Ásgeir: I had a good childhood I think. We moved a lot over the country, but I always managed to make new friends and fit in. I was very good at sports which helps a lot in those years to easily fit in. It was always either sports or music that came 1st or 2nd in my childhood, and I never paid much attention to school. We ended up moving to Laugarbakki when I was about 11; so I relate mostly to that town as being my hometown. The music that first made me want to be a musician was mostly rock music that was popular at the time, mostly early 2000, but also some older stuff,  bands like Nirvana, System Of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Soundgarden, Muse, Weezer and some Icelandic rock bands, as well. So the first band I was in we played some sort of a bad mixture of those influences. 

Diandra: Is there a favourite childhood memory you have with music?

Ásgeir: I remember when I was about 10 years old and me and my family lived in a house with a stairway. Me and my friends used to go out to the nearest store and buy a lot of candy and then take it to a secret room, under the stairway, where we had a ghetto blaster that we turned up very loud and listened to Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Nirvana and System of a Down all day. and dreamed about being in a band like them: playing on stage in front of a big audience.

What a sweet interview for a guy that really does live simply and atmospherically. He know how to set a mood that is both humble and starry, which is why Bury The Moon feels like him honing those two forces with more confidence. For More Information On Ásgeir Click Here.