Eivør - ‘Vulnicura and the Australian Debut’
“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.” – Tori Amos.
Eivør Pálsdóttir has a wondrous dedication to her artistic endeavours that is incredibly beyond measure. The Faroese singer, musician, songwriter and actress has released an astonishing 10 solo studio albums; she has composed countless collaboration releases with outfits and musicians such as: Clickhaze, Yggdrasil, Danish Radio Big Band, Àsgeir, Einar Selvik (Wardruna) and even the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. More recently, Eivør has ventured into the world of film, television and video game soundtracks, this includes the Netflix hit series and feature The Last Kingdom as well as Sony’s most profitable brand, the God Of War video game franchise. She has also won numerous awards including The Nordic Council Music Prize (2021), the Faroe Islander of the Year (2004), the Icelandic Music Award twice, multiple Danish Music Folk Awards and three Planet Awards.
Eivør’s first televised performance was at the age of 13.
Although these accomplishments are eminently impressive, they were only achieved because of Eivør’s remarkable courage. As a teenager, she moved to Reykjavík in Iceland when she began to notice that her voice was delicately faltering; her motivation was to study music and classical singing and to become the enigmatic lifeforce she is today. Even though she was barely of an adult age, her fearlessness and perseverance helped her heal, flourish and establish global adoration.
“I moved to Iceland when I was 17 to study classical singing, I had been performing a lot! I played in this rock trip hop band in the Faroe Islands (Clickhaze), and we would perform every weekend. It was during this time I got into trouble with my voice actually, that's why I moved to Iceland to start with. I had been just doing wrong vocal techniques before that, and it led to some problems with my voice”.
Eivør recalls with a tender yet prideful disposition and an infectious smile on her face.
“So, I heard about this Icelandic vocal trainer, an operatic singer, who I then went to study with. I was just supposed to be there maybe for a year to begin with, or half a year, but I loved it so much, I ended up staying there for five years. Quite soon after moving, I had my own band, and I made an album (the multiple Icelandic Music Award winning LP Krákan). It was just like this spontaneous journey that happened quite suddenly, and I have very fond memories from Iceland. I used to live downtown Reykjavik, and it was a very vibrant nightlife, and it was all very exciting for me back then.”
Was the move quite daunting? It takes astounding bravery to move to a different country, but to do it as a teenager is almost unfathomable.
“Yeah, I guess so, it was. But I was desperate at that moment, because I had been dreaming about becoming a singer my entire life, since I was a kid and I wasn’t living that dream in the Faroe Islands. I was performing at every opportunity I could but I felt that I couldn't do what I really wanted to do. I needed to learn more, and there weren't any possibilities of having local training in the Faroe Islands, I didn't know any teachers.” She pauses for a moment, and with emotional elation she then discloses – “So this Icelandic teacher, Ólöf Kolbrún Harðardóttir, kind of, in a way, saved my life. I discussed it with my parents, and I had just finished ninth grade; all my friends, they went to university and all that, and I wanted to be a singer. I just wanted to study singing. My parents really supported me, they understood and let me go to Iceland, and I stayed the first year with Ólöf.”
How was that experience?
“She was very strict!” Eivør exclaims with an enchanting laugh before elaborating further - “I decided to go all in and just take it all in. Eventually I found my own flat in Reykjavik, and I was just 18. But when I found my flat and I started living my life more independently, I stayed for five years. It's quite a crazy thing, when I think about it. But I became part of the music scene and made many friends. So, it very quickly felt like home to me.”
Iceland is home to some of the world’s most revered artists and musicians. This article’s very title Vulnicura, is in fact Latin for “cure for wounds” and also the name of arguably the country’s most celebrated artist, Björk’s eighth studio full-length. Another widely celebrated and admired musician from the region is Ásgeir Trausti Einarsson, or what he prefers to simply go by Ásgeir. Eivør and Ásgeir collaborated on a breathtaking folktronica single by the name of ‘Only Love’ in 2020; flirting with trip-hop and dark wave tones, the mystifying composition showcases an electricity that illuminates the witnesses’ senses to bedazzling levels.
“I was playing a show in Reykjavik, and I asked Ásgeir whether he would be up for joining me as a special guest. I thought he would say no, but he said yes.” She admits, still in some degree of disbelief. “So that's how we kind of got to know each other and then we collaborated later on a few tracks and we wrote ‘Only Love’ together. He's just this incredibly kind spirit and extremely talented musician.”
Are there any other collaborations that standout as favourites in your career?
“I worked with a composer called John Lunn on the TV series The Last Kingdom, and that was probably one of my favourite collaborations ever. It's just so free and beautiful and creative.
It was the first time I had been part of any movie soundtrack or TV series. I had never done that before, and it was completely new landscape for me. At the beginning, I was just asked to come to London and to try and sing over a scene, because they needed some female vocals. It all went bananas.” She describes with ecstatic glee almost running out of breath, then continues – “We ended up collaborating on the whole soundtrack for the entire series, which is quite rare I must say; I never saw that coming! So, I spent the next eight years writing music for the series with John. That was one of those unexpected, crazy adventures, that has really inspired me, in my own music as well.”
Eivør has just unleashed her 10th studio album Enn in June 2024 and this new adventure is in-all-likelihood her most scintillating and entrancing hybrid of dark electronica and neo-folk textures. Her ethereal vocals shine in a hypnotic luminescence over varying musical explorations such as avant-garde-poptronica (‘Jarðartrá’) or spirited and fantastically fervent neo-folk in ‘Upp Úr Øskuni’. Australia (and New Zealand) will have their debut experience of Eivør’s astonishing artistry and bewitching musical brilliance, most likely featuring these soul-stirring songs, in the very near future with her own headline shows and as the support for the prodigious Heilung on their return to our shores.
“’Upp Úr Øskuni’ was actually one of the last tracks that I brought for the album. I had this, this idea for this chant, which I hadn't really planned to add it to the album, but I just I had to kind of follow it all the way, like with many of my ideas. When I finished the track, I thought, does this even fit on this album? Because it's such a different has such a different vibe from the rest of the album, right?” She asks this question almost to herself, but in a tone that has an assurance that it was undeniably the right song for this LP. She then elaborates further – “But I felt it did fit on the album, because it has this raw, earthy, female energy going on. And that was something that worked well towards the end of the journey of this album.”
How does it translate live?
“It's been a great blast to play that one live. It creates a little bit of a chaos and it's an energy bomb in the live setting; it is one of those songs that I play anyways... It kind of shifts the energy, because I have a very dynamic set list which goes from the more operatic, very quiet and earthly tones to these tracks where I almost growl and scream; it has the whole spectrum.”
It's time for Australia to join Eivør in her chaotic courageous energy.
Interview by Will Oakeshott @TeenWolfWill
Eivør‘s album Enn is available through Season of Mist here
Catch Eivør on tour across Australia below
[gallery type="rectangular" columns="2" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/heilung-australia-2025.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image-1.png|"]
with Heilung
October 30 @ Red Hill Auditorium, Perth
November 2 @ AEC Theatre, Adelaide
November 4 @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne – FINAL TICKETS
November 6 @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
November 8 @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney – SOLD OUT
November 10 @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney – LOW TICKETS
November 13 @ The Riverstage, Brisbane
November 16 @ Kiri Te Kanawa, Auckland – SOLD OUT
November 18 @ Kiri Te Kanawa, Auckland
EIVØR - Sideshows
Tuesday, November 5: Stay Gold, Melbourne
Thursday, November 14: Brightside, Brisbane
Tuesday, November 19: Tuning Fork, Auckland
