Spellbinding Icelandic quirkpop pioneer
Who She?
DJ Flugvél Og Geimskip (that’s DJ Plane & Spaceship to you, mister) is Icelandic musician Steinunn Eldflaug Harðardóttir whose singular sonic vision has resulted in a beguiling junk shop of sounds; some sampled, some dredged from the murky depths of the sea, some probably found homeless and unloved, living in a skip.
Why DJ Flugvél Og Geimskip?
Her music is odd, scary and cute. It’s full of unexpected twists, and unexpected beginnings. And ends. And middle bits. It is not at all standard-issue electronic DIY. You might think that this kind of thing keeps the wolves from the door in those long Icelandic winters, or perhaps is the inevitable result of months of darkness and a lack of trees, knee deep in snow, but its antecedents are in the likes of Joe Meek’s naive space tunes and the twisted output of The Residents’ more peculiar entertainments. She calls herself an “electronic horror musician”.
Tell Us More…
She does a song about an evil plot by cats, who appear nice and friendly during the day, but who are actually very evil. There’s another one about an evil snake. That comes out at night-time. She’s basically channeling her inner six-year-old, Icelandic style, all imbued with stories about the dark and spooky evil spirits. And that is nothing except a compliment. Her charity shop sparkle and tea trolley gear set-up belies the fact that she has a lovely voice and is a story teller in the fine Icelandic tradition, while the songs are so singular and peculiar that it’s difficult to resist.
‘Nótt á Hafsbotni’ (‘Night At The Bottom Of The Sea’) is out on Mengi
