Iceland’s electropop star in the making
Who?
Kónguló is the latest moniker of Icelandic composer and producer Herdís Stefánsdóttir, and her new avenue for channelling dark electropop. Formerly half of the duo East Of My Youth, Kónguló shows Stefánsdóttir stepping out on her own, though still with an ear to collaboration. Two of her previous singles were made with fellow Icelandic producer Salka Valsdóttir, aka Neonme, who also penned the lyrics to her latest track, ‘The Water In Me’. Add Stefánsdóttir’s longtime collaborator Baldur Hjörleifsson into the mix, and you’ve got one precociously poppy project.
Why Kónguló?
Kónguló touts a particularly unnerving brand of electropop, resting somewhere between the dystopian Futurism of Arca and the crushing noise of Sunn O))) collaborator Randall Dunn. Foot-tapping existentialism? Dread-infused bangers? All of the above, and more. ‘The Water In Me’, for instance, involves five minutes of brooding sonic menace that steadily expands to arrive at a retro-futurist, techno-infused soundscape, ornamented by Neonme’s fragile musings. “This was one of those beasts of a track that took a long time to make,” says Stefánsdóttir. “I felt Neonme would be a perfect fit for it. We have this beautiful soul connection when it comes to harmonies and production.”
Tell Us More…
The name Stefánsdóttir might be familiar to you for her high-flying work as a composer. Having studied film scoring at New York University, she went on to intern for the late, great Oscar-nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson while he was working on the soundtrack to 2016 sci-fi epic ‘Arrival’. She has since lent her hand to several shorts, as well as some formidable television productions – not least Apple TV’s ‘The Essex Serpent’ and Hulu’s ‘Y: The Last Man’, which follows the only surviving male on a post-apocalyptic Earth.
‘The Water In Me’ is out on Marvaõa
