Ásgeir

At only 20 years of age, Ásgeir released the fastest selling debut album in Icelandic history –Dýrð í dauðaþögn / In The Silence. The album was made up of 10 tracks of soul-searching folk featuring lyrics penned by his father, Einar Georg Einarsson –a retired school teacher and poet. Winner of the 2012 Album of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards, it sold so many copies that it is estimated one-tenth of the population in Iceland owns the album. By the time the elegiac sounds of the album’s 2014 re-release, titled In The Silence were done rippling through the top 40 charts in the UK, France, Japan, Australia,Denmark and beyond, Asgeir’s stardom had become truly international.

The re-release included lyrics translated by acclaimed musician John Grant. Sell-out shows across the world beckoned, including two sold-out headline dates at Sydney Opera House in January 2015. In 2017 Ásgeir returned with daringly electronic album Afterglow, ambitiously balancing icy electronic shades of Bon Iver, James Blake and Anohni with soul, R&B and even gospel influences from different eras and places. February 2020 saw the release of Ásgeir’s third album, Bury The Moon –or Sátt, to give the record its Icelandic title, at times a bruising, achingly personal experience, with shades of the endless isolation Ásgeir put himself through in a remote summerhouse during wintertime in Iceland where he wrote the album with just his guitar, small keyboard and a simple recording set-up. The album received raving reviews around the world, including 4 stars in Mojo. In 2021 Ásgeir released a stripped back and intimate EP The Sky is Painted Gray Today, marking something of a return to the artist’s deep roots. As one of Iceland’s most successful exports, singer-songwriter Ásgeir has spent the time between his record-breaking debut (now celebrating its 10th anniversary) and today pushing the boundaries of his textured, thoughtful brand of folk-pop.